NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal will pass orders to fulfill his election promise of providing 700 liters of water every day to each household within 24 hours of taking oath as chief minister of Delhi on Saturday.
In an exclusive interview to TOI on the day President Pranab Mukherjee cleared the way for him to be the CM, Kejriwal also declared that he would order an audit of the accounts of power distribution companies in the city to check whether they have engaged in fudging their records.
"We are not claiming that we will make water available to everyone, at least at the present. But we are promising to make 700 liters of water free for each family for which only an executive order is needed," Kejriwal said. He said that distribution of water, and not availability, was the problem.
On the audit of the books of power companies, he asserted that such an audit was possible and comes within the ambit of the Comptroller and Audit General. All that was needed was political will, Kejriwal said.
The two announcements underscored his plan to hit the ground running and could assuage the doubts, at least about his willingness if not capability, to deliver on the promises that he has made.
In the wide-ranging conversation, Kejriwal also said that he wanted to divide the city into 2,720 mohalla sabhas to discharge local responsibilities: from the maintenance of schools, dispensaries parks to construction and repair of roads and provision of drinking water and electricity. Resources will be distributed among the mohalla sabhas to fund their requirements. To bring out what might deepen decentralization by taking it to an additional layer, former chief secretary Madhya Pradesh, S C Behar, has been asked to draw the roadmap.
Kejriwal acknowledged that one of the reasons he agreed to form the government despite being short of the majority mark was because he wanted to call Congress's bluff. He disclosed that he was set to decline the invitation because he was confident that AAP would sweep the re-election. The stand changed when Congress offered him outside support and, within no time, even started taunting for running away from taking responsibility. "This led us to conduct a referendum on whether we should accept Congress's help to form the government," said Kejriwal. He smiled when asked whether he felt that Congress has been trapped.
The CM-designate struck a realistic note when asked about AAP's plan for Lok Sabha elections, saying that AAP could contest any number of seats ranging from 20 to 400 depending on its assessment of its prospects in individual seats as well as its ability to find "suitable clean" candidates. Though this appeared modest in view of the assessment that the rookie party could run both Congress and BJP close at least in urban constituencies, Kejriwal was confident that its spectacular performance in Delhi will help AAP expand its footprint to other parts of the country. He said that government's performance in Delhi will the most effective campaign for the party.
He was not deterred by the fact that AAP might be squeezed out of the Lok Sabha arena because it will not be seen as a serious contender for power at Delhi in case it is unable to contest a majority of the seats. "Our polity is already fractured. Trinamool and SP win seats even though they restricted to their states", he pointed out.
Source - TOI - timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Arvind-Kejriwal-Will-order-700-litres-of-free-water-within-24-hours-of-taking-oath/articleshow/27927843.cms
In an exclusive interview to TOI on the day President Pranab Mukherjee cleared the way for him to be the CM, Kejriwal also declared that he would order an audit of the accounts of power distribution companies in the city to check whether they have engaged in fudging their records.
"We are not claiming that we will make water available to everyone, at least at the present. But we are promising to make 700 liters of water free for each family for which only an executive order is needed," Kejriwal said. He said that distribution of water, and not availability, was the problem.
On the audit of the books of power companies, he asserted that such an audit was possible and comes within the ambit of the Comptroller and Audit General. All that was needed was political will, Kejriwal said.
The two announcements underscored his plan to hit the ground running and could assuage the doubts, at least about his willingness if not capability, to deliver on the promises that he has made.
In the wide-ranging conversation, Kejriwal also said that he wanted to divide the city into 2,720 mohalla sabhas to discharge local responsibilities: from the maintenance of schools, dispensaries parks to construction and repair of roads and provision of drinking water and electricity. Resources will be distributed among the mohalla sabhas to fund their requirements. To bring out what might deepen decentralization by taking it to an additional layer, former chief secretary Madhya Pradesh, S C Behar, has been asked to draw the roadmap.
Kejriwal acknowledged that one of the reasons he agreed to form the government despite being short of the majority mark was because he wanted to call Congress's bluff. He disclosed that he was set to decline the invitation because he was confident that AAP would sweep the re-election. The stand changed when Congress offered him outside support and, within no time, even started taunting for running away from taking responsibility. "This led us to conduct a referendum on whether we should accept Congress's help to form the government," said Kejriwal. He smiled when asked whether he felt that Congress has been trapped.
The CM-designate struck a realistic note when asked about AAP's plan for Lok Sabha elections, saying that AAP could contest any number of seats ranging from 20 to 400 depending on its assessment of its prospects in individual seats as well as its ability to find "suitable clean" candidates. Though this appeared modest in view of the assessment that the rookie party could run both Congress and BJP close at least in urban constituencies, Kejriwal was confident that its spectacular performance in Delhi will help AAP expand its footprint to other parts of the country. He said that government's performance in Delhi will the most effective campaign for the party.
He was not deterred by the fact that AAP might be squeezed out of the Lok Sabha arena because it will not be seen as a serious contender for power at Delhi in case it is unable to contest a majority of the seats. "Our polity is already fractured. Trinamool and SP win seats even though they restricted to their states", he pointed out.
Source - TOI - timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Arvind-Kejriwal-Will-order-700-litres-of-free-water-within-24-hours-of-taking-oath/articleshow/27927843.cms
