The BJP’s much-hyped promise to make Delhi garbage-free has collapsed under its own weight, with mounds of waste piling up inside the Civic Centre itself. AAP’s Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the MCD, Ankush Narang, hit out at the ruling dispensation on Saturday, saying if Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh cannot even keep his own office clean, how can he free Delhi from garbage?
Ankush Narang reminded that on August 1 the Mayor had vowed to make Delhi garbage-free after clearing waste papers from his office, yet the campaign ended with trash still strewn across the Civic Centre. He added that CM Rekha Gupta and Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh have not run a campaign to free Delhi from garbage, but instead launched a campaign to give garbage freedom in Delhi.
On Saturday, MCD LoP Ankush Narang said that Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh had come to the MCD headquarters at the Civic Centre, where he launched the campaign from the Veterinary Services Department located on the 17th floor. The Mayor had declared that along with cleaning his own office, he would remove all waste lying across Delhi to send out a message of cleanliness.
Displaying a newspaper clipping, Ankush Narang reminded that the Mayor had claimed to have removed waste paper and e-waste from the MCD headquarters as a symbolic gesture of cleanliness. “The Mayor had promised to extend this campaign from his office to the entire city under the banner of ‘Koode Se Azaadi’. But today, even after more than a month, the Mayor has failed to get his own office cleaned,” he added.
The MCD LoP said, “The Mayor only came to the 17th floor once, created news, and left. The Mayor had said that waste would be removed not only from the headquarters but also from the 12 zonal offices. The truth is, it was all done only for newspaper headlines.”
Highlighting the present state of affairs, Ankush Narang said, “It has been one month and 12 days since the BJP’s so-called garbage-free Delhi campaign ended, yet Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh has not returned to inspect the headquarters. Today, the Civic Centre is buried under heaps of garbage, waste paper, and files—more than ever before.”
Calling the campaign a complete failure, the MCD LoP said, “BJP’s Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh and CM Rekha Gupta together launched the so-called ‘Koode se Azaadi’ from Garbage’ campaign in Delhi. But the reality is visible to everyone—the very office where Raja Iqbal Singh posed for photos with files is now drowning in garbage and filth.”
Ankush Narang asserted, “This situation clearly shows that if the Mayor cannot keep his own office clean, if the Civic Centre itself cannot be kept clean, how will they clean all of Delhi? BJP’s CM and Raja Iqbal Singh should be ashamed that all they do is pose for photographs and manufacture news. On the ground, BJP’s governance is zero—the four-engine BJP government has completely failed. Instead of giving Delhi freedom from garbage, BJP has run a campaign to give ‘Koode ko Azaadi’ in Delhi.”
