Arvind Kejriwal betrayed residents of illegal colonies: Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi: Accusing the Arvind Kejriwal government of betraying the poor residents of unauthorised colonies, Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Thursday alleged that it did nothing for regularisation of these settlements in Delhi despite staying in power for five years.

Addressing a press conference, Dr Vardhan charged that the previous Congress government, during its 15 years rule too, cheated the residents of unauthorised colonies by promising them ownership rights of their properties.

The press conference was attended by all the seven BJP MPs from Delhi, including Dr Vardhan and the Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Verma, Meenakshi Lekhi, Gautam Gambhir, Hansrraj Hans and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Goel, in a show of strength and unity of the party ahead of the Assembly polls, scheduled early next year. It was for the first time, after the parliamentary elections in May that all the seven BJP Lok Sabha MPs from Delhi shared a platform.

“The AAP government betrayed poor residents of unauthorised colonies in the city and the BJP, in coming days, will expose how the ruling party failed the people regarding the 70 poll promises it made to the people to come to power in 2015,” Dr Vardhan, Lok Sabha member from Chandni Chowk had said.

Dr Vardhan alleged that there were three to four things that the Delhi government was required to do for the regularisation as per regulations of 2008, but the AAP government did not fulfil its responsibilities — delineation of colonies, constitution of a committee to confer titles, fixing charges and fees — despite being in power for five years.

“Delhi government did not finalise the boundaries of the unauthorised colonies and kept on seeking extension after extension. In 2017, extension was sought till 2019 and now again, a further extension of two year has been sought. As per Delhi government’s own submission, delineation can not be completed till December 2021,” he claimed.