The Hindu : Regularisation drive no poll gimmick: Verma

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 01, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Regularisation drive no poll gimmick: Verma

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 29. The Union Labour Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, today asserted that the Central Government's decision to regularise unauthorised colonies in Delhi was not an "election ploy" but a dream come true for lakhs of people. He also demanded the resignation of the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, in the wake of recent food poisoning incidents under the mid-day meal scheme.

Mr. Verma said the benefits of regularisation of unauthorised colonies would start reaching the people very soon even though the Delhi Government had deliberately delayed the process of identifying such colonies. "Had it been an election ploy, it would have been implemented at the time of the Assembly elections," Mr. Verma said countering the Chief Minister's charge that the unauthorised colonies that had come up by March 31, 2002 were being regularised for gaining political mileage. Addressing a rally in Najafgarh area in Outer Delhi where he was felicitated for getting the unauthorised colonies regularised, Mr. Verma also outlined the works initiated by him in this direction during his tenure as Delhi Chief Minister. He said the basic amenities like electricity, water and sewerage system would be made available to the inhabitants of the unauthorised colonies.

Criticising the Shiela Dikshit Government for effecting a burden on citizens the through unnecessary increase in the rates of water, electricity and house taxes, the Minister threatened to launch an agitation on the price hike issue. He said the people had no obligation to pay such taxes if they were deprived of the basic amenities which must be made available to them by any Government.

Commenting upon the food poisoning incidents under the midday meal scheme, Mr. Verma demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister and other Government officials responsible for this.

He said the media reports suggesting that the children in the schools were forced to eat the meal by the teachers despite having complained of foul smell as indeed a serious issue. On the occasion, Mr. Verma lauded the achievements of the NDA Government under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president, Harsh Vardhan, who also addressed the rally said the Congress Government in Delhi should stop issuing politically motivated statements to hide its failures and instead take responsible stand as the issue of regularisation of unauthorised colonies would benefit lakhs of people.

Those who attended the rally included the BJP Unauthorised Colonies Cell president, Rajesh Gehlot, the State BJP General Secretary, Pawan Sharma and the area MLA, Dharmdev Solanki.

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