NEW DELHI: Delhi Lieutenant Governor K Saxena on Tuesday wrote a 15-page letter to former chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, holding his government responsible for the capital’s air pollution crisis and accusing him of “11 years of neglect and criminal inaction.”
In the letter, Saxena alleged that the AAP supremo was trying to “unnecessarily bog down” the 10-month-old BJP government for “petty political gains” instead of acknowledging past failures. He accused Kejriwal of double standards on pollution and claimed that the former CM showed “gross indifference” to the issue.
Quoting a past conversation, Saxena wrote that Kejriwal had once dismissed pollution as a seasonal media issue that fades after a few weeks. The L-G said that Delhi’s deteriorating air quality was worsened by potholed roads, poor dust control, stalled public transport projects and lack of desilting of drains and sewer lines.
Saxena accused the AAP government of stalling Metro Phase-IV, RRTS, e-bus induction and several Centre-funded infrastructure projects. He also alleged neglect of the Yamuna, claiming drains were blocked up to 80–90%, leading to flooding. The L-G further cited losses in water transmission, heavy siltation at Wazirabad reservoir and blamed Kejriwal for shifting responsibility to neighbouring states.
The letter also accused the AAP government of not tabling CAG reports, discontinuing weekly Cabinet meetings, delaying hospitals and schools, opposing development projects, and spending heavily on advertisements instead of healthcare infrastructure.
Responding sharply, the Aam Aadmi Party accused the BJP of using the L-G to divert attention from its failure to control pollution. AAP said that while Delhi continues to choke, the L-G chose “letter politics” instead of questioning the present BJP government. AAP national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda said the L-G should seek answers from the current Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, not the former CM.
He accused the BJP government of governance failure and alleged that the letter was aimed at staying in the political spotlight amid a worsening pollution crisis. “The orders are to distract people. Delhi is sinking deeper into a pollution crisis.”
