WEB DESK / NEW DELHI
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday released its manifesto terming it a “guarantee card” listing 10 promises, including free bus rides for students and deployment of “mohalla marshals” for women’s safety.
The card, “10 guarantees of Kejriwal”, also promises to continue the scheme for free electricity up to 200 units, free health facilities, to plant two crore saplings, to clean the Yamuna river, and reduce pollution in Delhi over the next five years.
“I am giving 10 guarantees to the people of Delhi. This is not a manifesto. We will launch a comprehensive manifesto in 7-10 days. The manifesto will have more things specifically for students, teachers, among others. This will be for everyone,” Kejriwal said.
.
Noting that people are affected by basic services like electricity, water, education, and healthcare, Kejriwal vowed to continue the existing subsidies in these sectors. “Opposition parties are spreading rumours that these services will be terminated by March 2020, after the elections. This is a lie.
“The manifesto will have a detailed set of promises addressing the issues of specific groups like advocates, teachers, students, workers, etc. separately,” he said. “Those promises also will be implemented effectively in the coming five years as we fulfilled all our 70 promises made five years ago.”
The “guarantee card” also promises more than 11,000 buses and to increase the length of the Delhi Metro network to over 500 km.
Clean water, quality education
The AAP leader said Delhi will get a 24-hour electricity supply and 200 units will continue to be free as he listed the “10 guarantees of Kejriwal”.
“Electricity will be distributed to all households through underground cables so that chaotic mess of overhead electricity cables will end,” he said.
Promising a 24-hour supply of clean piped water to every household in Delhi, he said, “When we came to power in 2015, only 58% of Delhi had access to piped water. We improved it to 93%. In the next five years, the rest 7% will also be added to the water network. I assure 24-hour clean drinking water straight from the tap to every household in Delhi.”
“Also, the scheme of 20,000-litre free water to every household will continue,” he said.
The third assurance to the electorate is to provide quality education to all till graduation.
“Children born in Delhi will get quality education till graduation. We stopped the arbitrary fee hike in private schools in Delhi. We’ll continue to facilitate the students in Delhi with loans for graduate studies. We’ll build new schools wherever required,” he said.
“We will create a world-class education system for every child in Delhi. This, I take as our government’s responsibility,” he said.
Kejriwal said the AAP government will provide cheap, accessible and better healthcare for all.
“We have done a lot of work in the health sector in Delhi. We’ll build more mohalla clinics, polyclinics, and hospitals. We are adding 15,000 beds in Delhi’s government hospitals. Through modern hospitals and mohalla clinics, free and proper treatment will be given to all people in every household, to save the lives of people,” he said.
The chief minister also promised to provide the “largest and cheapest” transport system in Delhi.
“The transport system in Delhi will be made a robust one with over 11,000 buses and more than 500 km of metro network. Apart from this, we’ll develop last-mile connectivity to ensure woman safety. Along with women, free bus ride scheme will be extended to include students,” he said.
Pledging to make Delhi pollution-free, Kejriwal said pollution will be reduced to one-third in the course of next five years. He said making Delhi safe for women is one of the most important priorities of the AAP government.
“We have installed nearly 1.5 lakh CCTV cameras, and another 1.5 lakh will be installed in the next few months. The numbers don’t matter, we’ll install as many CCTV cameras, and street lights as needed in the city to ensure woman safety. Similar to bus marshals, mohalla marshals will be appointed,” he said.
“Dust on roads will be removed using vacuum cleaners. With planting two crore trees, green Delhi will be made. The Yamuna will be cleaned and made pollution-free. We promise that after five years, anyone will be able to take a dip in the Yamuna without fearing of diseases due to dirty water,” Kejriwal said.
He also listed a slew of steps to make Delhi “clean and beautiful” including cleaning landfills.
“Delhi will shine after five years and become on par with international cities,” he said.
Kejriwal promised to provide basic infrastructure in unauthorised colonies.
“People in slums of Delhi live in extremely difficult situations. In order to give a dignified life to the slum dwellers, they will be provided with pakka houses near to the slums,” he said.
Opposition criticizes Kejriwal
Both the BJP and Congress dubbed the ‘guarantee card’ a “jumla” (gimmick) and a “lie”, saying the ruling party is staring at defeat in the polls.
“As the Aam Aadmi Party stares at defeat in the upcoming elections, it has come out with a ‘Kejriwal Ka Guarantee Card’, which is yet another ‘jumla’ card to fool the people of Delhi and divert their attention from the Kejriwal government’s failures in the past five years,” said Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra.
His BJP counterpart, Manoj Tiwari, accused Kejriwal of “lying” to people after failing to fulfil his 70 promises made during the 2015 assembly elections.
“The guarantee cards issued by AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal are the 10 new lies spoken to the people of Delhi,” he said. “Kejriwal is giving a guarantee card for the work which could not be completed during the last five years before issuing the new manifesto.