NEW DELHI: Days after the BJP alleged that as many as 203 homeless people had died due to the winter, the AAP-led Delhi government on Monday asked the Legislative Assembly’s Privileges Committee to investigate the allegation.
The move came after ruling party MLA Sanjeev Jha, referring to Ramvir Singh Bidhuri’s statement on the floor of the House during the ongoing winter session, said he checked the Delhi Police website and found month-wise data on the number of deaths of homeless people in Delhi from June to December 15.
The AAP MLA said the cause of death was mentioned as accidents or injuries, among other factors. He said the matter raised by the BJP legislator amounts to a subject of ‘privileges’ and accused the saffron party of trying to mislead the House and people of Delhi.
The ruling party MLAs said that the matter is “sensitive” and urged Speaker Ram Niwas Goel to send the matter to the Privileges Committee. The Speaker put the proposal before the House which referred the matter to the Privileges Committee for a probe.
On the first day of Delhi Assembly’s session, the BJP legislators had attempted to raise this issue, but the Speaker did not permit the discussion. In fact, when BJP legislators insisted on initiating the discussion as an attention motion, they were expelled from the House through marshals.
The opposition party MLAs had stated that a discussion on this matter should be initiated first. Bidhuri mentioned that once again, the Assembly is being run in an authoritarian and arbitrary manner. “The Delhi govt is unwilling to discuss any issue concerning the public, and it is not holding itself accountable for the deaths of 203 people,” he said.He demanded that CM Arvind Kejriwal be summoned to the Assembly to make a statement on this matter.
Allegation made by Ramvir SIngh Bidhuri
The move came after ruling party MLA Sanjeev Jha, referring to Ramvir Singh Bidhuri’s statement on the floor of the House during the ongoing winter session, said he checked the Delhi Police website and found month-wise data on the number of deaths of homeless people in Delhi from June to December 15.