Delhi Government: Lieutenant Governor behind delay in manja notification

The blame game over the ban on Chinese manja continued in the national capital on Wednesday with the Delhi government accusing lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung and environment secretary Chandraker Bharti of causing delay in issuing draft notification even as the L-G questioned the assertions.

Mr Jung has sought an explanation from the environment secretary after deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia wrote to him seeking action against the officer for the delay in issuing the draft notification banning the sale and production of glass-coated thread in the city.

Addressing a press conference with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Mr Sisodia alleged that file tracking note shows that the Chinese manja file was with Mr Jung for four days and the environment secretary for seven days.

However, the L-G office issued a statement asserting that it had received the file from the government on August 8 and sent it back to the deputy CM’s office on August 9. It questioned the draft notification saying it would not have served its purpose as rules require inviting suggestions from the public before issuing the final notification after 60 days.

The AAP government, however, insists that it had ordered a ban on Chinese kite strings with immediate effect in the draft notification itself. The deputy CM claimed that in view of the notification’s importance, the file on Chinese manja was cleared by the environment minister Imran Hussain, his office and chief secretary’s office within seconds.

“Our environment minister had cleared the file from the hospital on August 5 as he and his wife were diagnosed with dengue and thereafter my office and the CS office cleared the file within a few seconds and sent it to the L-G office. On August 9, the L-G gave his nod, but the file was with the environment secretary for seven days,” Mr Sisodia said.

Mr Jung has demanded an explanation from the environment secretary hours after Mr Sisodia wrote to him and sought disciplinary action against the officer.