Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (centre) with his deputy Manish Sisodia and party leader Kumar Vishwas (right) during a farmers' rally in New Delhi recently.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (centre) with his deputy Manish Sisodia and party leader Kumar Vishwas (right) during a farmers' rally in New Delhi recently. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (centre) with his deputy Manish Sisodia and party leader Kumar Vishwas (right) during a farmers' rally in New Delhi recently.

As an embattled Delhi government led by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) gets mired in controversies surrounding its leaders and ministers, the tall poll promises made before the Delhi elections are in the doldrums.

All major poll promises, including construction of new toilets, schools, colleges and hospitals have hit the wall. Given the magnitude of the work, pressure is mounting on the government with every passing day. While officials said achieving the target at this sluggish pace was near impossible, the opposition BJP and the Congress took a dig at the AAP, saying promises made by the party were impractical and unreasonable.

The AAP has also maintained a stoic silence on the core issues of Jan Lokpal, swaraj, full statehood to Delhi and cleaning of Yamuna. Nevertheless, the party has come out with a plan to salvage some of its reputation and appease the urban voters of Delhi by providing WiFi at 1,000 hotspots in the national Capital.

Sources said the attempt is aimed at diverting people's attention from the recent infighting and the suicide of Rajasthan farmer Gajendra Singh during AAP's rally at Jantar Mantar recently.

The government has said WiFi will be made available by February next year when it completes one year of governance. The government is also contemplating providing WiFi in 5,000 buses of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and also set up a common fibre infrastructure in the city. Delhi government, in association with the Delhi Dialogue Commission's WiFi Task Force, concluded a three-day consultation with various system integrator, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), hardware and software providers as well as ISPs and telecom operators.

As the government struggles against controversies, it has also developed cold feet on its pet issues that drove the party to power. These include Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill, Swaraj Act and full statehood to Delhi. These were the issues on which the Arvind Kejriwal-led government had resigned after 49 days in its previous stint.

"Given the workload, pressure is mounting on the government with every passing day. If the work continues at this pace, none of the poll promises can be achieved," said a senior Delhi government official.

The Opposition parties, on the other hand, lashed out at the government, saying the party had no roadmap to execute the projects. Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, said the poll promises made by AAP were aimed at misleading voters to come to power and that none of the promises could be fulfiled. "In its 75-day rule, the AAP has proved to be absolutely hopeless. The brute majority has become a liability for AAP rather than being an advantage. The party has no vision to achieve the target," Gupta said.

The Congress, which is also making efforts to regain its lost ground, came down heavily on the Delhi government for its inaction on core issues.

"The first two months of AAP government have been marred by controversies surrounding its ministers. No serious job has been done till now. The tall promises of AAP were a bundle of lies aimed at garnering votes during the election," Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said lashing out at the Kejriwal government.

Now get rebate on pending water bills

After providing 20 KL water subsidy, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has extended another benefit to city residents by giving rebate on pending bills and reducing the water development charge.

According to a senior official, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) will soon come up with a scheme to rationalise pending water bills. The move will not only give relief to the residents but will also augment revenue. Water bills of many residential and commercial properties are due for long. In some cases, bills have stretched over several lakhs. "We will review all the pending cases and rationalise their bill by giving major rebate," Kapil Mishra, AAP MLA and vice-chairman of DJB, said.

Water has always been priority for the AAP government and soon after coming to power the party had announced a waiver on accumulated late payment surcharges. The move was lauded my many as people in large numbers paid their actual arrears. DJB is also planning to bring down the water development charge which is a one-time fee paid for water connection. At present DJB is charging Rs 400 per square yard as part of water development charge from residential and commercial establishment.

"We are planning to reduce it to Rs 100 per square yard to make it more economical. Under the current charges one ends up paying a hefty amount only for water connection.

We will ensure quality water services reach each house of the city, Mishra said.

- With inputs from Mail Today/ New Delhi

