Delhi CM jibes at LG Saxena, asks him to "chill"

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a swipe at Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and asked him to go "chill" as he drew parallels between Saxena and the former's wife.

He also highlighted the L-G's scoldings.

"As much as L-G sahib scolds me every day, even my wife does not scold me," tweeted Kejriwal.

Calling out the number of letters and inquiries that LG Saxena wrote, Kejriwal said,"In the last six months, my wife has not written me as many love letters as L-G Sahib has written to me."

The Delhi CM lined out a piece of advice on a lighter note as he jibed at the Centre and BJP without naming anybody specific.

"LG sahib, chill a bit. And also tell your super boss, chill a little," he added.

The tug of war has been evident ever since the L-G's appointment.

Earlier on October 6, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena expressed displeasure over the unjustified and inordinate delay in payments by the Kejriwal government and directed the Chief Secretary to take immediate steps to clear all dues of Dalit sanitation workers in the national capital before Diwali.

The L-G's directions were not the first as Saxena had been highlighting the loops in the Kejriwal government quite aggressively.

The L-G asked the Chief Secretary to look into a complaint of the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) citing non-payment of bills to the tune of Rs 16 crore by Delhi government to over 1,000 Dalit workers engaged in cleaning of sewer lines in the national capital through Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

The LG said, "this was a serious matter and asked the Chief Secretary to take immediate steps to clear all genuine claims of these Dalit sanitation workers before Diwali so that these marginalized workers do not face any hardship during the festivals."

The LG's directions come in wake of a representation made by DICCI, led by its chairman Dr Milind Kamble who met the Lieutenant Governor on September 30, complaining about the apathy of the Delhi Government towards these Dalit workers who are the first generation entrepreneurs.

The DJB had signed an agreement with DICCI for implementing a technology-based solution for sewer cleaning to eliminate manual scavenging in Delhi on February 28, 2019, under which 189 contractors from marginalized communities were engaged by DJB for cleaning of the sewer lines.

These contractors have engaged over 1000 sanitation workers who are responsible for the cleaning of sewers in the DJB areas.

Also, to implement the project, these contractors purchased sewer cleaning machines with loan assistance under the "Stand up India" scheme, a flagship scheme of the Prime Minister that aims at supporting the poor and the marginalized to become self-reliant.

The State Bank of India has extended the term loan up to 90 per cent of the project cost, that is Rs 40 lakh for each machine and the remaining 10 per cent of the margin money was brought in by the Dalit entrepreneurs.

Thus, the EMI payment to the bank forms the major expenditure every month apart from the recurring operation and maintenance expenses of these machines.

However, due to non-payment of bills by the Delhi Government, these Dalit workers have been forced to go without salary for several months and the contractors are unable to meet the critical recurring expenses like fuel, operation and maintenance and repayment of bank EMIs.