If L-G VK Saxena had invited me as PWD minister to help with the preparations for the G20 summit, things would have been more efficient and unnecessary duplication of work would have been avoided, PWD minister Atishi tells Ashish Srivastava in an interview. He, however, did not invite either me or the Delhi Mayor for the official meetings, she added. Excerpts:
Union Minister of state for Culture Meenakshi Lekhi has said that the Centre bore all the expenses for the G20 summit preparations and Rs 4,000 crore was disbursed among various agencies including MCD and PWD. What is your response?
Preparations for the G20 summit have been going on for several years and all agencies have participated in it. Like the Centre has been building the ITPO complex for many years at Pragati Maidan, the PWD built the infrastructure of tunnels in that stretch since the G20 was going to happen. We asked the Centre to disburse funds worth Rs 927 crore as expenses related to G20 beautification to the Delhi government as well as the MCD. But not a single penny was provided to us. So all the expenses for the work you see in the MCD area and in the jurisdiction of the city government were incurred from the respective budgets. Meenakshi Lekhi’s statement is completely incorrect.
Any specific funds you kept aside for the beautification or any estimate that you can provide?
That would be difficult to gauge since most of the works are covered under running expenses and the estimate would only be calculated after the projects get completed. Some work were going around for the last few years like building a network of tunnels. Besides, 24 roads come under the PWD and all the works related to renewing the roads, strengthening the existing infrastructure, horticulture, signage, new lights, and fountains, among others come from the department’s own budget. Similarly, the MCD did maintenance and revamping of its road infrastructure and areas around the monuments from its own budget.
The L-G has alleged that barring one meeting, CM Arvind Kejriwal and other cabinet ministers did not attend any preparatory meet convened for the G20 preparations.
I’m surprised that he made such a statement. For the last six months, I’ve been heading various ministries but not once did he call me for a single meeting or inspection. He is a higher constitutional authority. If he had called, we would have definitely gone. His office cannot produce any proof of the meetings. There are notices and other documentary proofs. He would go on inspecting PWD roads and would call secretaries but not me. He would inspect the MCD area but would never invite the MCD mayor. Nonetheless, we have not created any political issue out of it.
But a political war to take the credit for the work done did happen between the AAP and the Centre…
Politics has been happening at the behest of L-G for the past week when he started taking credit for all the work. Our stance has been that the preparations have been collaborative efforts of all the agencies involved. Anyone who knows Delhi is aware of the fact that the city is run by multiple agencies. The Delhi government can’t take credit for the work done by the Delhi Cantonment Board or the NDMC. Similarly, he can’t overshadow the achievements of the PWD and the MCD. Give credit where it’s due. No one should have the illusion that he is the greatest.
Do you think not inviting the ministers and the mayor affected the coordination among participating departments? Would things have been done differently if you were kept in the loop?
L-G is the administrator of Delhi. He represents the Central government and is the honorary head of the Delhi government. The onus of coordination lay with him. The separate agencies including the city government have their certain jurisdictions and can’t meddle in each other’s affairs. It was his responsibility to make us the party to the entire process. We can’t land up uninvited to a meeting where he didn’t invite us.
If he had invited me as PWD minister, I’m sure things would have been more efficient. For example, the L-G heads the DDMA and a meeting related to the recent floods was called and we all went there including the CM, I and Saurabh Bharadwaj. The work could have been done more efficiently. Unnecessary duplication of work would have been avoided as well.
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While parts of the city are shining due to the revamp, large-scale demolitions that displaced thousands of slum-dwellers too have taken place. Your comments?
We have tried to reduce the demolitions, which were conducted by the PWD, as far as we could. We prevented many slum clusters from being bulldozed. Unfortunately, the L-G, DDA and other agencies pushed for the demolitions.
How are things with regard to the relationship between the L-G and the city government at the moment?
The genesis of the matter is the GNCTD Amendment Act which is again in the Supreme Court which will take the final call over its constitutionality. As far as we are concerned, the Act is entirely unconstitutional. It is like the pre-independence Morley-Minto reforms where the British used to conduct elections in the country but never gave up the power of decision or policy-making to the elected representatives. The same thing is happening now. Two bureaucrats appointed by the Centre are sitting over the elected CM in a panel. The Centre is brazenly trying to bypass the spirit of federalism through the Act but we are hopeful that the SC will deliver justice.
