Arvind Kejriwal's claim on fighting pollution in Delhi exposed; Rs 787crore fund lying unused

New Delhi: Amid tall claims made by Arvind Kejriwal on fighting the pollution menace, an RTI query has now revealed that the AAP government here has failed to properly utilise nearly Rs 787 crore green cess collected during 2017.

The revelation has put the Arvind Kejriwal government "in a spot" as it has raised a lot of hue and cry over the rising air pollution in the city.

While replying to a query filed by Sanjeev Jain - a Right To Information activist – the Delhi government said that it received Rs 50 crore in 2015, Rs 387 crore in 2016 and Rs 787 crore as environment cess from January 1 to September 30 in 2017.

The AAP government claimed that it had spent Rs 93 lakh of the environment cess in 2016, however, there was "no mention of any expenditure" in 2017.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is likely to come under attack from the opposition parties, including BJP, following its response to the RTI query.

Delhi CM Kejriwal had on Wednesday met his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar and said that the state governments will collectively take steps to fight the pollution menace.

It is to be noted that stubble burning by farmers in the states of Punjab and Haryana is also a big contributor to air pollution in Delhi.

Capitalising on the opportunity, the Congress said that the Delhi government was not utilising funds for strengthening the public transport system, and instead was involved in "blame game".

"It is complete negligence on the part of (Chief Minister) Kejriwal's government. It has not been able to utilise Rs 787 crore which is lying idle," Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken was quoted as saying by IANS.

"The public transport system in Delhi is in shambles," Maken added.

Slamming the AAP government, Maken said they could have bought new buses with this money, and also augmented total parking capacity of the bus depots.

Lashing out at Kejriwal, Maken said, "Instead of using the money which is lying idle, he is busy aiming at the other state governments and the Centre instead of doing his bit."

Maken said Kejriwal could have purchased road vacuum cleaners, as the dust "is the single biggest contributory factor for air pollution" in Delhi.

"In Delhi, if we look at all the factors contributing to air pollution, then about 80 per cent of it is due to road dust, vehicular movement, industrial pollution and domestic pollution. And the Delhi government itself should deal with it," he said.

"He (Kejriwal) is passing the buck and trying to get attention. He could have utilised Rs 787 crore they could have bought more than 1,500 Delhi Transport Corporation buses," he said.

He accused the Delhi government of deterioration in the DTC fleet over the last few years.

"When we were in power, the strength of the DTC was 5,445 buses, which has now gone down to 3,951 buses. There has been a shortfall of 1,500 buses in three years," he said.

The Congress leader also said that the passenger ferrying capacity has also gone down from 46 lakh per day to 26 lakh per day.

"People have been forced to use their two-wheelers in the absence of a robust public transport system," Maken added.

With IANS inputs