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BJP seeks funds for Delhi's villages

Staff Reporter

"Sheila Government has not taken care of these areas"

NEW DELHI: Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Harsh Vardhan on Thursday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to provide a special package of Rs. 10,000 crore from the Planning Commission for planned development of Delhi's 364 villages. He said the money would help in the development of the villages and provide them with basic amenities that are being made available in the urban areas.

In a statement, Dr. Vardhan said the villages of Delhi are deprived of the basic amenities such as parks, community halls, entertainment centres, drainage, roads, sewers, water, power, education and health. Lamenting that people live in "hellish" conditions in many of these villages, he said, "The Sheila Government has not taken care of the villages during the last eight years."

Since Delhi's population had increased continuously, he said, these villages had provided cheap rented accommodation to people coming in from other States in search of livelihood. And so, the BJP leader said, the development of Delhi was possible only if there was development in the villages.

With the Commonwealth Games due to be held in Delhi in 2010, Dr. Vardhan said the villages of Delhi should be developed in such a way that they do not look like patchwork on the face of the city and instead are developed like the rest of the city. "For this purpose it is necessary that the Planning Commission release a special package for the development of Delhi," he said.

Dr. Vardhan demanded that the Planning Commission should instead of handing over this fund to the Delhi Government spend it through an independent agency so that all the villages are provided with sufficient basic amenities in a fixed time frame and the funds provided by the Centre are not usurped by corrupt elements.

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