new Delhi. The head of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government looks confident with the control of Corona in Delhi to a large extent. He believes that now the situation will gradually improve. His government is also trying to get the economy back on track. Saurabh Srivastava and VK Shukla of Dainik Jagran held special talks with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on what are the challenges and what will be the strategy to achieve these goals . Here are the key parts of this conversation.
How long does the government plan to start the house-to-house ration scheme?
The Delhi government is serious about this plan. This will be implemented from January 1, people will not have to go to the shop to get ration, they will get ration at their house. Tender process is going on for this. At the same time, in the coming times, the people will visit the offices for government facilities completely. The government is soon going to discontinue the option of getting window services under door step delivery for various government services. Then these services will be fully available to the people at their home.
Chief Minister Kejriwal said in a special conversation on Saturday that steps are being taken to close the window option in government services to eliminate the brokers’ influence. Once the tender process is complete, people will start getting service at home in a month or two.
Let us know that in Delhi, people will start getting ration at home from next year. Arvind Kejriwal government is starting a door-to-door ration scheme from January 1. At the same time, window services in government offices will also be closed for services provided under door step delivery. Now all these services will be made available to the people at their home. Under this scheme, Delhiites can avail 100 types of services at their home.
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Delhi and Mumbai are major contributors to the country’s economy, but there are many challenges in getting the economy back on track. The trust of people associated with business and industry is not being maintained, what will you say?
It is absolutely true that the economy in Delhi alone cannot come back on track. Goods come from other states, from Delhi also goes to other states. If the economy of the rest of the country will not sustain, then Delhi alone will not be able to sustain it. We have opened markets, but the ground reality is that there are no buyers in the market, have opened restaurants, but no customers. However, fear has reduced in Delhi now compared to the rest of the country.
When is the economy of Delhi expected to be back on track, what steps are it taking, will it also seek help from the Center?
The condition of the economy of the whole world is bad. The economy of Delhi has also been badly affected due to Corona. We are trying to improve it, but a permanent solution will be found only when the corona vaccine arrives. Otherwise people are very scared, even if they are not afraid, there are still many problems, due to which it will take time for the situation to become normal. How will the entire buses run, how will the metro run, How will markets fully open. Now there was talk of opening a weekly market, then there was a long discussion in the meeting that if you open a weekly market, the corona will increase. Right now it has been started as an experiment. We cannot even sit silent because of not getting the vaccine. As a government, we are taking all steps and working together with all sectors. Five thousand crore rupees have also been sought from the central government. Apart from this, the Central Government has also been requested to provide the amount of GST compensation.
Unemployment remains a major problem, what is the government’s plan to overcome it?
We have started a job portal, it has yielded good results. A large number of both job seekers and job seekers have come on one platform. There are some sectors which have been badly affected by Corona. Even auto, rural service etc. are included in it. Along with all this, we have also given financial assistance of five thousand rupees to construction workers.
The government does not have money, can the public get discount on electricity and water?
Any exemption given to the public will not be stopped. The government is able to subsidize these and these schemes will continue to run as before. If someone talks about stopping the subsidy at such a time, it is not right. Subsidy will not be withheld. This is the time to help people.
In view of the present situation of corona infection in Delhi, how long can schools and colleges be opened? Would it be safe to open them?
The result of opening school-colleges internationally has not been good. In Israel, in the last week of May, the corona infection condition was quite cured. Deaths had stopped, and Corona cases had reached double digits. In such a situation, they opened schools and it had very bad results. One and a half children were found corona infected in the same school. On this he closed all the schools again. America also opened schools, where 97 thousand children got infected in a few days. Wherever we go now, the parents ask when the schools will open, I say the same thing that till we are fully convinced, will not open the school-college, our children’s lives are valuable.
Recently, there was talk of acquiring schools of Municipal Corporations on behalf of Delhi Government. Is there any such plan? What is being done in this direction?
We are studying this. There are many political tricks in this. Technically, it cannot be said how long it will take, but theoretically it should. We are asking the municipal corporations that if they are unable to run the school, then give it to us. Children are suffering, the situation is that five passing children are unable to read even the book.
Why are the teachers of Delhi University (DU) protesting over salaries?
I have been told that all the money has been given to DU. There is a dispute with some colleges over the governing body. DU has not taken further action on the names sent by the government. The DU administration should also think about this. You should not insist on it Everyone wants teachers to get their salaries on time, children should be educated properly. DU administration and education department should sit down and find a solution in this regard.
To reduce pollution in Delhi, AAP has notified the Electric Vehicle Policy. It will cost a lot of money in subsidy etc., will the current situation be able to fund it and will the target be met in time?
The electric vehicle policy that the Delhi government has implemented is the most progressive policy not only for the country but also internationally. Just two days ago, Union Minister of State for Power RK Singh appreciated it. Our dream is that Delhi has a place in the world map in the matter of electric vehicles in five years. Today people take the name of China in the case of electric vehicle, in the coming years, the name of Delhi should be taken. There will be no shortage of money in it, because it will use the money of the fund created for air pollution control, in which there is a lot of money.
The AAP government has a second term in Delhi with an absolute majority, but a solution to the problem of waterlogging could not be found. What is the reason?
This problem was very much when our government was formed. For two-and-a-half years, we worked on it a lot, got the drains cleaned. We made sure that the drains were cleaned on time and pumps should be installed wherever it fills and the water was drained out in half an hour. This time the drainage could not be cleared due to corona. This is not the time for politics or press conferences, which should clear the problem with the drain. What will happen with the fight.
What is the permanent solution for the government to solve the problem of water logging?
The only solution to this is that all the big and small drains of Delhi should be given to one agency. The responsibility of cleaning them should be either with the Delhi government or with the municipal corporation. Somewhere there is a drain of municipal corporation and somewhere there is a drain of Delhi government. These drains will have to be completely redesigned. Now it is a situation that the drains are not even connected in many places.
