‘We promise to clear Delhi’s three landfill sites if voted to MCD’: AAP Minister Gopal Rai

New Delhi: AAP Delhi convener and minister Gopal Rai Friday asserted his party will solve the city's garbage management problem within five years, if voted to power in the MCD, saying the BJP failed in its 15-year tenure in the civic body. The party released 'Kejriwal's 10 guarantees' for the December 4 MCD polls earlier this month with the promise to clear the three landfill sites and address the problem of garbage mismanagement in the capital. In an interview with PTI, Rai said, "It is not just AAP but the people of Delhi who have been raising this issue," when asked why is the party focussing on the issue of garbage menace.

AAP's senior leader Atishi had earlier told PTI that the party will rope in international experts to find solutions to reducing the size of the three landfill sites. Rai concurred with her and said there are several countries that came up with technological solutions to garbage mismanagement. "I visited Sweden a while ago and it is a country that used to be polluted at a point in time. There, the garbage collected from households directly goes to the treatment plants. They turn it into energy and fertilizer," he said.

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Elaborating on the party's plans, Rai said it will install such treatment plants in Delhi, where the garbage collected from households will directly be dumped there and energy will be generated. "We will install more machines to clear the landfill sites. There are two solutions to it - one, we stop dumping garbage there permanently and two, multiply the manpower working there. AAP will do the work in the next five years that the BJP failed to do in the last 15 years," he asserted.

The national capital has reported 3,044 cases of dengue this year while in 2021, 9,613 dengue cases were recorded, the highest since 2015, along with 23 deaths, the highest since 2016. Yet, despite these figures, vector-borne disease is not an election issue. "Dengue is not a separate problem. It is a by-product of sanitation. If in Delhi, the sanitation system is maintained and improved, the dengue problems can be solved. The solution for all types of illnesses like dengue, and malaria, lies in cleanliness. If they are managed properly, the problem will be solved," he said.

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The AAP has been constantly attacked by the BJP over the issue of corruption charges against its leaders like Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain. Will such allegations and the charges of MCD tickets being sold affect the mindset of voters? "The BJP does not have any issues to talk about. Every day they wear a mask and are just trying to pass the days in the lead-up to the MCD polls. Since March, when they got the elections postponed, they have been abusing CM Arvind Kejriwal. But 'Bhaag BJP Bhaag' is the chorus everywhere," he said.