Vinit Wahi / NEW DELHI
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee and ex MLAs Jai Kishan and C S Khandera have accused the Aam Aadmi Party Government in Delhi and the BJP-ruled MCDs of gross neglect for the manhole deaths, as after the first manhole death was reported on March 4, nine more manhole deaths have happened since then.
Mukherjee demanded that each family of those who died while doing manual cleaning of the sewers be given a compensation of Rs 1 crore each. Addressing a press conference she said that when the UPA Government was in power at the Centre, the Parliament had passed an Act on 19th September, 2013 completely banning manual scavenging. She said that the Delhi Government had issued a circular on October 10, 2013, putting a blanket ban on manual cleaning of sewers after a gazette notification on 12th April, 2013 regarding Ban on Manual Sewer Cleaning in Delhi.
She said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who boasts about his pet project “Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan”, has failed to ensure cleanliness of Delhi, the Capital of India, despite the allocation Rs 34,212 crore for 2018-2019 for the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan”. She said despite so many deaths due to manual cleaning of the sewers, the Kejriwal Government has failed to take effective steps to prevent such deaths
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Mr Jai kishan said the Aam Aadmi Party has zero experience in running a Government which has become cearly evident from the recent manhole deaths. He said before the elections, Kejriwal had promised to regularize and give other facilities to not only the contract sanitation workers, but also such related, contract employees in the Delhi Government.
Mr Jai kishan said the AAP and the BJP were two sides of the same coin, and they have done nothing for the welfare of the sanitation workers. He demanded that contract employment in sanitation work should be stopped forthwith.