Delhi feels unsafe; CM should be sacked for collapse of public order: Goel

New Delhi, April 24.- With the capital of the country forced to bear repeatedly the shameful tag of ‘rape capital’ and the common people bearing the brunt of complete lack of accountability  displayed by  the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her colleagues in the government, Delhi BJP unravelled a ‘chargesheet’   which makes a fit case for sacking of this government.

“This chargesheet shows that from law and order to power, water, sewage, health, social sector schemes –the Delhi government has proved to be a disaster on all fronts. The city residents should not be forced to bear the burden of this misrule, hence we demand immediate dismissal of this government,’” said Delhi BJP President Shri Vijay Goel.

 “It is shameful that even as the city continues to become increasingly unsafe, the Chief Minister  has done nothing to improve the situation,” he added.

 “The Chief Minister and Congress legislators and ministers always give this lame excuse of the Delhi Police being under the home ministry. But the home ministry is also manned by a Congress minister,” Shri Goel said.

 “In fact  her own party colleague Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde recently exposed her when he categorically said that not even once  Sheila Dikshit has asked for Delhi Police to be brought under the purview of the state government.  This exposes the double speak of the Chief Minister which is really condemnable,” he added.

 The Delhi BJP President said that a delegation of the BJP leaders would meet the President of India to demand sacking of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her government.

 “If a government cannot protect its own citizens, it has no right to continue. Today, none of the Delhi residents feel safe. And ironically, the Chief Minister herself is demanding removal of the Police Commissioner even though it is her party which is ruling at the state and Centre.”

 Shri Goel said, this demand from the chief minister is an admission that the law and order situation has completely broken down and under the constitutional norms, this makes a fit case for sacking of this government.

  To add to the woes of Delhi residents who are feeling unsafe, the Delhi government has  been brazenly favouring private power companies for tariff hike. There is documentary evidence now which shows that the government is hand in glove with power companies.   The  rampant corruption of this government has been exposed. There is complete collapse of water supply and sewage management and health services.  In case of transport, the government has been indicted for corruption by none other than the CAG.

 In such conditions, this government has lost the trust of the common people and the sooner it goes, the better it will be for Delhi, said Shri Goel.

BJP Chargesheet  to sack Delhi Congress government

 If the President, on receipt of a report from the Lieutenant Governor or otherwise, is satisfied: 

• that a situation has arisen in which the administration of the National Capital Territory  cannot be carried on in accordance with the Provisions of article 239AA or of any law made in pursuance of that article; or
  
•  that for the proper administration of the National Capital Territory it is necessary or expedient so to do.

The President may by order suspend the operation of any provision or article 239 AA or all or any of the provisions of any law made in pursuance of that article for such period and subject to such conditions as may be specified in such law and make such incidental and consequential provisions as may appear to him to be necessary or expedient for administering the National Capital Territory in accordance with the provisions of article 239 and article 239 AA.

Lack of safety for women

• According to the latest data of National Crime Records Bureau, out of 53 cities of the country having a population of more than 10 lakh, -Delhi has accounted for 17.6% of Rape cases, 31.8% of Kidnapping & Abduction cases, 14% of Dowry Deaths and 10.1% of Molestation cases. Among  these 53 cities, Delhi (4,489 cases) has accounted for 13.3% of  crimes against women
  
  
• The women-centric policing in the city is almost absent as the number of women in Delhi Police is woefully low at just 7 per cent of the Delhi Police strength. What's worse is that they are usually given routine and inconsequential posts and are rarely seen patrolling the city streets. Shockingly, of the 161 district police stations in Delhi, only one (Maurice Nagar in north campus) has a woman station house officer (SHO), as per available information in December 2012.
  
  
• There are 4,809 women officers of various ranks, ranging from constables to inspectors. Delhi Police statistics reveal that there are 72 women inspectors - the rank at which they are made SHOs - but there are hardly a handful of such cops posted as SHOs, and that too at places like the Crime against Women cell, Rithala metro station and New Delhi railway station. Most women officers are found posted at the women help desks at police stations, as PSOs to VIP wives and children or at the 3rd battalion to escort prisoners between jail and court.

The CAG report on Delhi Police has clearly said most of the funds earmarked for modernisation of the communication branch of the Delhi Police were not utilised. Physical implementation of Intelligent Traffic System could not be started due to deficient planning, thereby, depriving users of the benefits of world-class traffic system in the Capital, apart from unfruitful expenditure of Rs.7.5 crore, it said.

Missing Children:  The city is not only unsafe for the women and the girls but it has become  one of the most dreaded places for children and their parents also as a large number of children in the capital go missing every year. As many as 14 children go missing daily in the city. . In   last two years around 7200  cases of  children being kidnapped were reported. This is another clear evidence of the unsafe environment in the city. 

Bungling in Ladli scheme meant for girls

The CAG audit of the Ladli scheme. Many of the Ladli beneficiaries were automatically dropped from the scheme after their policies were not renewed. Only 73,108 (58.11%) cases were renewed out of 1, 25,808 between 2010-11 and 2011-12. Due to absence of monitoring, the scheme failed to support 42% of the beneficiaries who had enrolled for the scheme after birth but did not renew it. CAG's survey of some girls' only and co-educational schools in the city found that the beneficiaries dropped from 27.17% in 2009-10 to 20.92% in 2010-11 and to 18.30% in 2011-12.

Power

Due to massive hike in power tariffs, the city residents have been forced to come out on the streets to protest. Unfortunately, the chief minister of Delhi reacted by saying that “If you cannot pay higher bills, then better to get your power supply disconnected!” When delegations of hapless citizens tried to meet the CM over this issue, she had another word of advice adding insult to the injury of Delhi citizens as she said, “If you are getting higher bills, then stop using cooler and air conditioners and use only one light and a fan!”

Lokayukta has sent a notice to the Delhi government for allegedly providing undue advantage to Reliance Energy to the tune of Rs 129 Crore.

 The CAG has also indicted the Delhi government for rampant corruption in the power sector.  The CAG report rapped Delhi Transco Limited (DTL), a Delhi government company in-charge of power, for achieving mere 32.08 per cent target in augmentation of transmission capacity from 2007-08 to 2011-12 and for not being able to recover an amount of Rs.754.83 crore as transmission charge from BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd.

The audit report found DTL to have extended a rebate of `6.81 crore to discoms on wheeling power (transmission costs) which was not allowed by Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).

The CAG also found discoms BRPL (BSES Rajdhani Power Limited) and BYPL to be irregular in their payments of wheeling charges from October 2010 onwards. An amount of Rs.754.83 crore was pending for recovery from them as on December 15, 2012. The national auditor recommended bringing transparency in tax collection so that such losses can be avoided.

Transport

The Transport department has also become the den of corruption. In one of the recent scams involving a sum of no less than Rs 200 to Rs 300 crore, while the contractors who were given contract for clearing fitness of the commercial vehicles have been in jail, no action has been taken against the political masters. Interestingly, this whole proposal was cleared by the Delhi Cabinet.

According to the CAG department of transport (DoT) favoured Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS) on many occasions by granting contracts on nomination basis in non-transparent and non-competitive manner. "Though a private company, DoT continued to accord special treatment (to DIMTS) by awarding works on nomination basis in violation of financial norms.

The DoT accepted the proposals as submitted by the DIMTS, without any scrutiny," said the report. "Even when results could not be achieved during the plan period, the DoT, without concurrence of the finance department, awarded the work related to BRT to the DIMTS at a higher rate than that of PWD," added the report.

The report said that there was an irregular expenditure of Rs.9.25 crore (May 2011) to DIMTS without appropriate approval of the finance department, which instructed DoT (in July, 2011) to ask for refund from the company.

The auditor observed that the DoT released Rs.42.89 crore to private operators for operation of four clusters against the revenue collection of Rs.27.41 crore during 2011-12.  Even as there is no end to the corruption cases in the transport department, the public transport services continue to be in shambles. Especially in remote areas of outer Delhi and in several unauthorised and resettlement colonies, due to absence of rationalisation of routes, the public transport is hardly available.

Water and Sewage

Delhi residents continue to wait for sufficient water supply even as the Congress government has got itself busy in privatisation of the water supply in Delhi.  While the demand for water is 1050 MGD, the Delhi Jal Board has the optimum capacity to supply on 827 MGD. One in every four Delhiite gets 3.82 litre of water a day as against a prescribed 172 litres,

There seems to be clear nexus between the Tanker Mafia and section of the government. Also, the water tariffs have been hiked substantially in the recent time resulting in harrowing time for the common people. 24.8 per cent of the households in Delhi were being supplied water through tankers in the absence of pipelines. Per capita supply to this population was only 3.82 litres per day against a prescribed norm of 172 litres,

The government has completely mismanaged the water and sewage. The CAG says that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), responsible for the territory's water supply, has added only 1 MGD (million gallons per day) capacity of sewerage treatment plants, while laying about 900 km of sewer line during 2007-12 with an expenditure of Rs 1,634.18 crore.

“The DJB had not prepared any perspective plan for sewage management for XIth five year plan, and could collect and treat only 367 MGD (54%) out of 680 MGD of sewage generated in Delhi,” the report said.

Furthermore, there was a lack of equitable distribution of drinking water within the NCT, the CAG said, “due to lack of reliable data on population and water supplied to different areas,” and the absence of comprehensive metering of water meant that “less than 40% of water produced was billed during last three years.”

Health
In New Delhi’s hospitals, “emergency departments were not providing required services due to lack of essential equipment, medicines and adequate staff,” the report said, adding that “all the test checked hospitals were lacking in facility for purified and clean drinking water.”

More curiously, the CAG said that the 1000-bed Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and LN (Lok Nayak) Hospital, “have been using ambulances, mainly for miscellaneous purposes instead of for the patients”, apart from the fact that these vehicles did not have “essential equipment for basic life support system”.

Underlining issues at the Directorate of Health Services, the CAG reported that no construction work has started at the land sites for 10 hospitals, ranging in capacity between 60-700, that were allocated between 1997 and 2008.

Poor Tax management

The CAG also pulled up the Delhi government for slow progress of work, non-finalisation of purchase proposals and less release of grants to various organisations in its audit report of state finances.

While the tax revenues of the state increased by 21% to Rs 3,494 crore, the report pointed out short payment of value added tax amounting over Rs 2,321 crore.

CAG has blamed imprudent decision making of the Delhi government in not getting the insurance cover on the basis of current valuation of assets by Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited, resulting in a loss of Rs 2.33 crore due to under insurance.

The non-tax revenue, which constituted 2.06% of total revenue receipts during 2011-12 decreased by 89% to Rs 3,728 crore over previous year, it added.

Besides, the report also mentioned that about 39% of the audited cable operators in the city failed to pay taxes for the past three years. Moreover, the state department of finance was unable to recover entertainment tax Rs 1.26 crore from 12 cinema hall owners and luxury tax amounting to Rs  9.76 crore from the hoteliers.

Indictments by  Lokayukta and Judiciary-

• In 2009, the Lokayukta passed strong strictures against Sheila Dikshit and Rajkumar Chauhan on Rajiv Ratan Awas Yojana. The Lokayukts had recommended the President of India to take action against the two
  
• In 2010, the Lokayukta again recommended removal of  Raj Kumar Chuhan, a minister in Delhi government, for trying to protect a resort.
  
• In March 2012, the Delhi High Court issued a contempt notice against Directorate of Education
  
• In October 2012, the Delhi High Court expressed its anguish over the slow pace of work on Yamuna cleanliness
  
• The  judiciary has also taken the Delhi government to task over BRT corridor issue.