NEW DELHI: Promising clean drinking water and 10, 000 new e-buses for Delhi, city BJP Manifesto Committee chairman Ramvir Singh Bidhuri on Monday announced that the party’s new government after Assembly elections will promptly implement the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme.
Addressing the media, South Delhi MP Bidhuri said, “The Arvind Kejriwal and Aatishi governments have only looted and served poisonous water to Delhiites in the name of a 20, 000-litre free water scheme.”
When the BJP government comes to power after next elections, the first Cabinet meeting will approve the implementation of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) which has been blocked by Kejriwal in Delhi.
“Elderly and the poor in the entire country are availing Rs 5 lakh health insurance but Delhiites have been denied the scheme’s benefits due to Kejriwal’s politics, ” he said.
The veteran BJP leader alleged the AAP government has misled Delhiites in the name of offering 200 units of free power. “It is fleecing people by collecting high surcharges. Due to the monthly surcharge of Rs 125 per KW for domestic connections, consumers are paying a high rate of Rs 9 per unit of power, ” he said.
He alleged that the commercial power users in Delhi were paying Rs 17 per unit, which was among the highest in the country.
“The power bills will be rectified when the BJP government is formed, ” Bidhuri said, promising to remove unnecessary surcharges being collected from electricity consumers.
The BJP Manifesto Committee chairman also called the Kejriwal and Atishi governments’ free water scheme a sham.
“As per the Delhi government’s own admission in the Assembly, it is unable to supply potable water to 40 per cent of the city’s population, ” Bidhuri said.
He said out of the 7, 500 water samples collected by the Delhi Jal Board, 2, 500 samples failed on quality parameters.
“The AAP government is supplying poisonous drinking water in the name of a free scheme and citizens’ health is deteriorating due to it, ” he said, adding that the Delhi government was charging up to Rs 4 lakh development charges from new water connection applicants with a plot size of 200 sq metre.
The BJP leader also hit out at the AAP government for its failure to upgrade the DTC bus fleet to ensure comfortable free travel for women. “Kejriwal had promised to buy 15, 000 new buses but did not buy a single new bus, ” he said.
“It was due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that 1, 600 new electric buses could be added to the DTC fleet, ” said Bidhuri, promising that the new BJP government would add 10, 000 e-buses to the fleet of Delhi Transport Corporation.
The BJP also launched an official email ID and a WhatsApp Number to invite suggestions for its manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Bidhuri said from December 7 two BJP video vans would move around in each district to collect manifesto suggestions from people.
Elections to elect a new 70-member Assembly in Delhi are scheduled to be held around February,