The Hindu : Mukhi blames Congress Govt. for Capital's ills

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Mukhi blames Congress Govt. for Capital's ills

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 22. The Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Jagdish Mukhi, today accused the Delhi Government of failing on the financial front by not being able to achieve its revenue targets and under-utilising its Plan funds.

Stating that as against 11.28 per cent revenue growth from February 2002 to February 2003, the growth had declined to 8.39 per cent in the following year, Prof. Mukhi charged that the Government had driven the Capital to the brink of bankruptcy by almost getting it into a debt trap.

He also accused the government of imposing the Unit Area Scheme on the residents without any deep thinking of the issue.

"The basic principle of taxation has been defied with this Unit Area Scheme,'' he said, adding that "while the farm house owners will have to pay a tenth of the house tax amount, the common man will have to pay between 10 and 50 times of the house tax.''

Stating that the categorisation of the colonies has been done in an arbitrary manner, he said in certain colonies different parts have been placed under different categories without any rationale.

"By this, the rich will be benefited and the common man will be forced to bear the brunt of the burden,'' he said, adding that BJP will oppose this policy of the Congress Government.

On the issue of water, Prof. Mukhi said even before the onset of summer, there is an acute scarcity of water. Noting that the claims of the Delhi Government about availability of potable water have fallen flat, he said the planned increase in water charges at such a time was most unwarranted.

Attacking the Government on every issue on the eve of the Budget session, the BJP leader said people were also suffering due to fast running electricity meters and faulty billing by the private distribution companies. "The correct bills are not being sent and electricity connections are being disconnected without any fault of the consumers,'' he alleged.

Of the view that the contractors are robbing people in the name of Single Point Delivery Connection, he said they are collecting money from the consumers but are not depositing the same with the Government. Stating that the supply of electricity has not improved, he said the BJP would corner the Government on both water and electricity issues during the session.

Prof. Mukhi also criticised the liquor policy of the Government holding it responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the Capital.

He said the lowering of age limit from 25 years to 21 years for purchase of liquor and the proposal to do away with the dry days will be opposed.

The BJP leader demanded that elections to the vacant seats in Municipal Corporation of Delhi be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls.

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