NEW DELHI: Ruling AAP MLAs protested the alleged stalling of a proposed one-time settlement scheme in Delhi Assembly and forced adjournment of the House on Friday.
The Aam Aadmi Party MLAs tore and tossed copies of the "inflated" water bills inside the House. Later they burnt copies of the bill outside the Gandhi statue in the assembly complex.
The AAP MLAs accused the BJP of stalling the proposed scheme by putting pressure on government officers. The proposal of the scheme has yet not been approved by the cabinet.
Amid sloganeering in the House, MLAs carrying placards came trooped to the well after members completed special mentions under Rule 280.
Speaker Ram Niwas Goel tried to pacify the members but they ignored his requests, following which, he adjourned the house for around half an hour.
When the House reconvened, AAP MLAs again went to the well of the House. Finally the speaker adjourned the House till 11 am on Monday.
In the last few days of the ongoing budget session of Delhi Assembly, AAP MLAs have been protesting over the issue forcing adjournments of the House after special mentions by the members. They claim that people were meeting them with complaints of inflated bills and requesting it to be rectified.
AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar said he has come across many people who have received highly inflated bills and said that such bills should not be paid by the consumers. He tore copies of the inflated bills saying the protest will continue till the scheme is passed.
The MLAs said the bills were inflated because metre reading was not taken by Delhi Jal Board (DJB) employees. The scheme is proposed to rectify such bills taking average of correct readings over a certain period of time.
DJB has 27 lakh water connections out of which nearly 10.5 lakh consumers have not paid bills, claiming the bills were highly inflated.
Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri alleged that the Kejriwal government is playing "dirty politics" over the issue and that the bills were inflated because of airflow metres installed by it.
AAP MLAs have paralysed the assembly during the budget session, and they came to the well of the House and created ruckus, forcing adjournment of the sitting, he charged.