In light of an unfortunate incident in the basement of a coaching institute, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded an immediate and crackdown on illegal commercial operations in basements across Delhi. Senior AAP leader and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak condemned the practice as a criminal activity and warned that without intervention, future incidents are inevitable. He stressed the need for a transparent investigation into a recent incident at a coaching centre and criticized the BJP, who were in power in MCD for 15 years, for neglecting the city’s drainage system for the past 15 years. The AAP Rajinder Nagar MLA urged for urgent solutions rather than political blame games, emphasizing the urgency of addressing these critical issues.
AAP MLA from Rajinder Nagar and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said that the water has been removed from the basement of the coaching institute where this tragic incident took place. But now it is enough. Not only in Rajinder Nagar but in many areas of Delhi, many people are using the basement for commercial activities. It is being said that the coaching institute where this incident took place is waterlogged. Children were studying in the basement. During this time, a vehicle passed by and the basement door broke after being hit by it and the basement got filled with water.
The AAP MLA from Rajinder Nagar assembly continued, “The question is why were the children studying in the basement? The coaching institute has opened a library in the basement and is teaching children. This is a completely criminal activity and strict action should be taken against them. Also, strict action should be taken against the officers who are involved in this. If this happens, the entire Delhi will be ruined.”
Durgesh Pathak further added that the drain has been de-silted. Still, it should be investigated with complete transparency. Whoever is responsible for this, strict action should be taken against him. I met the CEO of DJB and MCD officials 20 days ago. I talked to them about de-silting and cleaning drains. I am demanding super shaker and dicky machines, but where 10 machines are to be installed, only two machines are coming. Machines are coming for two hours. There is a shortage of that. If action is not taken against the business activities and coaching institutes running in the basement against the rules, the entire system will be ruined. Today the incident happened due to water logging, tomorrow some other incident can happen.
“Delhi’s drainage system is in shambles. The reason for this is that the BJP government was in power in MCD for 15 years. The BJP did not do any work on drainage. Our government has been in power for the last one year and we are working on drainage. I do not want to get into any blame game. I want that there should be an impartial investigation and strict action should be taken against those responsible,” said the AAP MCD in-charge
The Rajinder Nagar MLA stated, “The BJP people will do politics, we do not want to get into their politics. We have to look for solutions. The solution is that until strict action is taken against commercial activities going on in basements, such incidents will keep happening. We will have to go down to the ground in the entire Delhi and visit every house. If commercial activity is going on in the basement of any house, it will have to be sealed.”
“We will discuss this issue with the ministers. Strict action should also be taken against the officials of DJB. 20 days ago I met the CEO of DJB and the officers of MCD. Sewers are blocked at many places, pipelines are broken at many places, they need to be replaced, but no action is being taken on this,” Durgesh Pathak concluded.
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