One year of AAP: Kejriwal waives Delhi water bills till November

Free water and reduced electricity rates were Aam Aadmi Party’s two major poll planks.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal arrives for a public interaction session to mark completion of one year by his government, in New Delhi on Sunday.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced that his government would waive off the pending water bills till November 30, 2016.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday on the occasion of his government completing one year in office, he said, “Water bills are in complete disarray. Pending water bills exemption will be based on property tax category where A and B category would be exempted 25 per cent of their water bills, C category would be exempted 50 per cent, D category would be exempted 75 per cent and E,F,G,H category would be totally exempted from their dues,” he said.

Giving details, Mr. Kejriwal said that despite subsidy, Delhi Jal Board has Rs. 176 crore surplus and by the end of this year, all of Delhi will get piped water. “We will be diverting Rs. 840 crore to DJB so that water pipelines can be laid in all colonies.”

Free water and reduced electricity rates were Aam Aadmi Party’s two major poll planks. Mr. Kejriwal said that his government slashed electricity prices soon after coming to power.

“We were hopeful that irregularities by discoms will come into view after the CAG audit. We are hopeful to win this case in the SC and electricity prices will further come down after CAG audit,” he added.

Giving details of the projects completed, the Delhi CM said that his government saved Rs. 300 crore of public money with timely completion of three flyovers. “

Paisa khaya nahi, paisa bachaya ,” he said.

In its maiden budget in 2015, the AAP government doubled allocation for education and raised the health budget by 45 per cent. He said that government schools will soon be at par with private schools. “We have done away with a management quota. The business should be taken out of education sector.”

On the success of the odd-even scheme, he said, “Odd-even was a bold move. No party, fearing backlash, took any bold steps like us to tackle pollution problem in Delhi.”

Mr. Kejriwal said 1000 more mohalla clinics will be opened in this year.

Earlier, expressing his delight on completing one year in office, He said the bonding between the AAP and Delhi is “deep and everlasting”.

“Last year, on this day, Delhi fell in love with AAP. This bonding is deep n everlasting,” he tweeted.

On February 14, 2015, Mr. Kejriwal took oath as Delhi Chief Minister and exactly a year before that on February 14, 2014 he resigned as Delhi CM after 49 days in office.