NEW DELHI: In yet another face-off between Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V K Saxena and Arvind Kejriwal led government, the former has rapped the government to look into non-payment of bills to the tune of Rs 16 crore to over 1,000 sanitation workers engaged with Delhi Jal Board (DJB).
Saxena asked chief secretary Naresh Kumar to look into the “inordinate delay” in paying for cleaning of sewer lines maintained by the DJB.
Officials at L-G secretariat said Saxen has expressed “displeasure” over the “serious matter.” “Saxena asked the chief secretary to take immediate steps to clear all genuine claims of the Dalit sanitation workers before Diwali,” a senior official said. The L-G’s action came in wake of the representation made by the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) Chairman Dr Milind Kamble who raised a complaint about the apathy of the Delhi Government towards the Dalit workers, said officials.
Kamble alleged that a lobby active in the DJB has been deliberately trying to fail these poor Dalit sanitation workers so that the sewer cleaning work again goes back to the old contractors, they said.
According the DICCI complaint, on February 20, 2019, the DJB had signed an agreement with the committee for implementing a technology-based solution for sewer cleaning to eliminate manual scavenging in Delhi. As per the agreement, 189 contractors from the marginalised community were engaged by DJB for cleaning of the sewer lines. The contractors purchased sewer cleaning machines with loan assistance under the ‘Stand Up India’ scheme, it added.
“The State Bank of India had extended the term loan up to 90 per cent of the project cost -- `40 lakh for each machine -- and the remaining 10 per cent of the margin money was brought in by the Dalit entrepreneurs,” DICCI claimed. “Due to non-payment of bills by government, the workers have been forced to go without salary for several months and the contractors are unable to meet the critical recurring expenses,” the DICCI alleged.
“L-G take a chill-pill”: CM
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal responded to the allegations in a rather cheeking manner. Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said that the L-G has written him more love letters than the wife.
He asked Saxena to “chill out a bit” “Even my wife does not scold me the way Saxena does. In the last six months, my wife has not written me as many love letters as L-G Sahib has written to me. L-G sahib, chill a bit and also ask your superior to chill a little,” he said.
Contract to eliminate manual scavenging
According the DICCI complaint, on February 20, 2019, the DJB signed an agreement for implementing a technology-based solution for sewer cleaning to eliminate manual scavenging in Delhi. Around 189 contractors from the marginalised community were engaged for cleaning of the sewer lines.