As air quality in Delhi continued to remain in the ‘severe’ category for the second consecutive day, the BJP slammed the AAP government and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying that his “intent and integrity” is polluted and that the city is reeling under “pollution of corruption”.
Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “Arvind Kejriwal has said today there should not be any politics on pollution. But they have been doing politics for a long time. There has been increase of 34 percent in stubble burning in Punjab. The Centre gave Rs 1,350 crore for crop residue and Punjab bought 12000 machines but there is no account of 12,000 machines.”
the Delhi CM said that deteriorating air quality and pollution levels were a problem of the entire north India and the Centre should take steps to address it. He said that this is not the time for blame game and politics, but to find a solution to the problem.
The war of words between the BJP and AAP leaders comes as the national capital continued to reel under the eye-stinging pollution with air quality recorded in the ”severe” category even on Friday.
During his media briefing, Patra also alleged “massive corruption” by the Labour Ministry of Delhi in construction industries. He accused the AAP government of siphoning off money meant for construction workers’ welfare.
He alleged that the Delhi government registered “bogus” construction workers and siphoned off money meant for them for AAP’s party-related work.
“The case we are talking about is the biggest corruption case in the history of India as far as construction industries are concerned. We will leave no stone unturned to unfold the ill deed of corruption carried out by the Labour Ministry of Delhi,” he alleged.
The BJP leader claimed that three NGOs working for construction workers have alleged “massive corruption” in their registration in Delhi through proxies. Patra alleged that 65,000 workers had the same mobile number while 15,700 had the same residential address in Delhi and the remaining 4,370 had the same permanent address.
“Investigations have revealed two lakh fake construction workers have been registered in Delhi. 65,000 workers have same mobile number. The registries made under the AAP have been severely mischievous. There has been existing the scam to the tune of crores of rupees. The candidates are not real entities, but the proxies with the ghost registries,” he alleged.
Elaborating on the figures, Patra said between 2006 and 2021, over 13 lakh construction workers were registered under the Delhi government’s labour department. Of these, over 9 lakh were registered between 2018 to 2021.
