NEW DELHI: The Delhi Government came under fire on Monday at a meeting of the Congress Coordination Committee headed by party general secretary Ashok Gehlot for its poor handling of the power and water crises in the Capital and also its failure to submit detailed project reports and City Development Plan under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last December.

The meeting also witnessed a detailed presentation by Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken on the steps taken by the Government to address the concerns of lakhs of people including implementation of the Tejinder Khanna Committee report. Mr. Maken informed the meeting that the Government had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court and also initiated measures to amend the Master Plan for Delhi-2001 to allow mixed land use and more ground coverage and increase Floor Area Ratio (FAR). However, on the issue of securing funds under JNNURM, Mr. Maken reportedly took the Delhi Government to task for having failed to submit their DPRs and CDPs even after the passage of eight months since the scheme was launched. He said that of the 63 cities that would benefit from the plan, 42 had already submitted their proposals for financial sanction but Delhi was lagging far behind.

At this, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Finance Minister A. K. Walia remarked that this delay was due to multiplicity of authority. Dr. Walia also pointed to the delay in implementing the model Rent Control Act. To this Mr. Maken said first the DPRs had to come and then the rest of the things would automatically follow.

Mr. Maken also pointed out that one of the conditions for securing funds under the scheme was that Delhi Jal Board would to be passed back to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and sought to know what steps had been taken to implement this mandatory requirement under JNNURM.

The issue of the power and water crises also came up for discussion to which Ms. Dikshit remarked that this was a routine affair that took place virtually every year and things had been taken care of by her Government. Emerging out of the meeting Mr. Gehlot said he had conveyed to Ms. Dikshit that her Government had to dispel the impression that the Congress Government was always speaking for private distribution companies and defended the role of the private players all the time. "This has to change and the elected Government should be seen voicing the concerns of the consumers and raising their grievances for a proper settlement. The traffic situation is also in a mess and so is the condition of the roads. There is an urgent need to address these concerns of the common man,'' he added.

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