Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, along with her cabinet ministers, hit the ground running on Monday morning (September 30), inspecting and identifying damaged roads across the national capital aiming to ensure a pothole-free city by Diwali. Atishi, accompanied by Public Works Department (PWD) engineers, visited different areas in south and southeast Delhi. The move comes days after Atishi took over as the chief minister following Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation from the office.
After the inspection of roads, Atishi said, “For two days, Arvind Kejriwal and I inspected the roads of Delhi and found that the condition of roads is very bad... Arvind Kejriwal has given a call to all the party MLAs and ministers to work towards restoring the roads of Delhi at the earliest…”
She detailed the areas assigned to respective ministers to visit and said that all roads in the city will be pothole-free by Diwali.
“I have taken up the responsibility of roads in south and south-east Delhi. Saurabh Bharadwaj is responsible for inspecting East Delhi roads, Gopal Rai will be inspecting roads of north-east Delhi, Imran Hussain will be inspecting roads of central and New Delhi districts, Kailash Gehlot will be responsible for south-west and Outer Delhi, and Mukesh Sehrawat for north-west Delhi... In the next 3-4 months, all roads will be restored. We will try to give pothole-free roads to the people of Delhi by Diwali…” she said.
Manish Sisodia conducts inspection
Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the BJP “destroyed” all the roads in the capital city to “trouble” the residents and said that all pending work will be finished, now that Arvind Kejriwal is back from jail.
“On the instructions of Arvind Kejriwal, I and Saurabh Bharadwaj inspected a few roads of Delhi. We observed that many roads were in a bad condition. In some places, work was going on and the road had been dug up for the last 7-8 months. Potholes have been left open in some places. We will work on it and the roads will be renovated. BJP has destroyed all the roads of Delhi to trouble the people of Delhi... Now that Arvind Kejriwal is back, all the pending work will be completed quickly... Arvind Kejriwal has instructed the CM as well as all ministers to work on a war footing and work on the conditions of roads in Delhi…” he said.
BJP reacts to road inspection
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari took a jibe at former CM Arvind Kejriwal stating that Atishi proved he was "completely useless" as he never inspected the roads.
"Those who slept for 4.8 years are now coming out on the streets to show off. Atishi has proved that Arvind Kejriwal was a completely useless Chief Minister because Arvind Kejriwal never inspected the roads... The people of Delhi will now send these people away permanently because the people of Delhi have understood that at the time of elections, they all talk sweetly and take good steps... The people of Delhi will punish them," he said.
On Sunday, Atishi held a meeting to review the condition of roads in the city and said that all ministers would inspect roads in designated areas for a week to identify those in need of repair. After the inspection, repair work will be started and all roads are expected to be pothole-free by the end of October, she had said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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