News Brief
Delhi: 11 Projects Delayed By Delhi Government Cleared By Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena
Delhi LG V K Saxena meeting officials. (Source:@LtGovDelhi on Twitter)
In a major development, Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG), V K Saxena, green lighted 11 important development projects in the capital that had been delayed for a long time, awaiting clearance from the Delhi government.
The Delhi LG invoked his powers to recall the files and expedite the approval process, to get the files cleared within days.
Some of the projects that have now been cleared include the redevelopment of GPRA Colony at Srinivaspuri, which had been pending since 2019, GPRA Sarojini Nagar, which had been pending since August 2021, and the Urban Extension Road (UER-II) by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which had been pending since September 2021.
According to officials, the Lieutenant Governor had previously raised the issue of the prolonged delays with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in several meetings and had also written to the Chief Minister twice, on 17 August and 30 September, highlighting the "inordinate and unexplained delay" in granting permissions by the Environment Department and urging the Chief Minister to take action to ensure the speedy disposal of the files.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi had been stonewalling central government projects in Delhi as a political tool.
After coming to power in 2018, the AAP government caused inordinate delay in implementation of the Regional Rapid Transport System’s first corridor from Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut.
The Chief Minister had reasoned that the Delhi government cannot bear its share of the cost of Rs 1,138 crore in the Rs 31,902 crore project, and asked the centre to foot the bill. He also demanded design changes that required significant cost escalation.
The project is crucial to free the capital from congestion and control pollution.
In December 2021, in a written reply, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Rajya Sabha that the Delhi government's approval for financial commitment with regard to detailed project reports of two RRTS corridors, Delhi-Gurugram-SNB and Delhi-Panipat, has not been received.
There has been serious lack of urgency, within the Kejriwal led government, in taking decisions on crucial issues of public interest.
A few days back, the Delhi LG had raised the issue of inexplicable delay by the Delhi government in issuing orders on pollution control measures in the capital.
(with inputs from PTI)
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