NEW DELHI: A Goliath in the politics of Delhi, Congress veteran Sheila Dikshit leaves behind a large body of work which cements her place as a visionary leader who paved the foundation of a modern Delhi. There is hardly any aspect in the lives of Delhiites which she has not left her impression — whether through infrastructure project either sanctioned by her, or completed during her three-term as the chief minister. From 1998 to 2013, Dikshit was the empress of Delhi but it was the year 2010 when development projects saw its zenith, courtesy the prestigious Commonwealth Games.Some of her biggest contributions were the push to environment- friendly public transport and the privatisation of power supply in the city.
Once she was convinced that a project is for betterment of people of Delhi, she didn’t stop, recalled Rakesh Mehta, former chief secretary of Delhi. “The iconic Signature bridge project was her favourite. She was adamant to purchase low-floor air-conditioned buses, but finance minister AK Walia was of the opinion that the bridge and swanky buses are wastage of funds. She took the charge of the finance department from him and proved her point,” he said. Mehta was appointed as chief secretary in December 2007. It was Dikshit’s second in the office.Currently, Delhi has one of the world’s largest fleet of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) based buses. The entire credit for this goes to Dikshit, who single-mindedly pursued the transport plan.
Name any road infrastructure project — Barahpullah flyover, signal-free corridor between Gandhi Nagar to Noida, AIIMS flyover-elevated road network, ITO flyover, Rajghat Ring Road — they bear the name of Dikshit. “Then railway minister and culture minister were vehemently opposing the Barapullah elevated corridor as it was running close to Humayun’s tomb, a protected monument. However, Dikshit had her way. She persuaded everyone. She knew it was an important project for the people and will transformed commuting in the city,” Mehta said.
Delhi is a power surplus city — this is also due to the Dikshit government’s move of welcoming private players in the power distribution and production network. “Today, we don’t face long power cuts. It is one of the biggest contributions of Dikshit. She did all mandatory and requisite measures to improve the financial health of the city to purchase power. Pollution and environment were on the top of her priority list for which she initiated participation of the people. For cracker-free Diwali, she roped in school children,” said former chief secretary Praveen Kumar Tripathi.
Dikshit is credited with the launch of exceptional schemes exclusively for women and girl child. ‘Stree Shakti’ addresses the need of women particularly from the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) by providing better health, nutrition, education, income generation. And, so was the Ladli Scheme meant for girl children. Nitin Panigrahi. Deputy General Manager (Project & Administration) at Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation asserted that it was Dikshit, who conceived and implemented the first public participatory governance model in the national capital through the ‘Bhagidari’ scheme.
DELHI TO OBSERVE TWO-DAY MOURNING
New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced a two- day state mourning on the demise of Congress stalwart and three time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. On Saturday, CM Arvind Kejriwal and Sisodia cancelled their programme to flag off the second batch of the beneficiaries of the Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojna. “Only last month I had met her for nearly an hour when she came with her party’s delegation to submit a memorandum on several issues.
At the end of the meeting, I wished her good health, not knowing that this would be my last meeting with her,” said Kejriwal. “The people of Delhi will always remember contribution of Sheila Dikshit. The void left by her demise can never be filled. She understood the issues concerning Delhi very well.” Sisodia said the Delhi government would observe a two-day state mourning as a mark of respect in memory of the veteran leader. “She will be accorded a state funeral,” said Sisodia. Leader of Opposition Vijendra Gupta and BJP RS MP Vijay Goel were among leaders who paid their respects to the late leader. “God bless her soul and give her eternal peace..Delhi will miss you Ma’am, u were a mother figure in my life,’ Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari tweeted.