CM, MLAs Go To Sleep As Delhi Chokes

Delhi CM and his MLAs are sleeping at LG office as Delhi chokes

As Delhi is battling a huge health and environmental crisis created by the dust coming in from Rajasthan, MLAs have gone to sleep — literally. For the fourth day in a row, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejeriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and senior leaders Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai have been spending their days and nights at Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office, leaving Delhi administration to dogs.

And at the other end, protesting at the paralysis in governance, BJP leaders are sleeping at the Delhi Chief Minister’s office.

This sleeping drama must end. Peoples’ welfare should be addressed, especially the serious and dangerous pollution crisis. As AAP and BJP fight, it is the ordinary citizen who is choking to death.

Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party are protesting against Baijal’s refusal to intervene to put an end to the strike by bureaucrats. Kejriwal alleged Baijal is doing “nothing” to break the impasse despite repeated requests from the AAP. He said the Centre and the L-G have control over the IAS officers and had they been under the Delhi government, their “strike” would have ended within hours.

Today, Kejriwal sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to end the governance impasse in the National Capital so that the Delhi government can address the issue of rising pollution in the Capital city.

He told Modi that key developmental projects in the city were stuck due to the bureaucratic crisis. Kejriwal said his government could not address the issue of air pollution as the officers have not been attending meetings with ministers for the past three months.

“Pollution in Delhi is a major problem. Earlier, we used to have a meeting every 15 days to check for measures to curb pollution. But now because of the strike, we did not have any meeting,” he said in his letter.

The letter comes at a time when the air quality levels in the city slipped to “severe” category in the last three days due to a dust storm from Rajasthan and the summer heat. People have been advised to stay indoors after the toxic pollutants in the air were said to cause breathing difficulties.