The Hindu : New Delhi News : A year of failures: Harsh Vardhan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

A year of failures: Harsh Vardhan

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 13. Describing the first year of the Sheila Dikshit Government's second tenure in office as an "year of betrayal'', the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president, Harsh Vardhan, today said the period had been marked by "anti-people decisions, corruption and total failure on all fronts".

"Price rise, hike in water and power tariffs as well as imposition of professional tax and making cheap liquor available to the people is the gift of the Congress Government to the people of Delhi," he said.

Addressing a press conference to mark the sixth year of the Congress Government in office, Dr. Vardhan said that "within a period of one year, the people of Delhi have got disillusioned with the Sheila Dikshit Government and public opinion clearly indicates a downward journey for the Chief Minister as well her Government".

Stating that lack of accountability and transparency has become the order of the day, the BJP president said that while water had been made costlier, the Government had lowered the rates of liquor. As if this was not enough, hefty increase was made in the parking charges, thousands of small-scale industrial units were closed down due to lack of vision and the property tax was hiked in an arbitrary manner. Stating that the Chief Minister had lot to hide on the issue of privatisation of power, Dr. Vardhan informed that despite the Comptroller and Auditor General report indicting the Delhi Government for "fraud'' in power reforms to the tune of Rs. 7,000 crores, the Chief Minister has remained silent. There is no explanation about the lapses that took place during the privatisation process and nothing was being done to redress the grievances of the consumers who have been left to the mercy of the distribution companies.

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