The widening rift between the Delhi government and Raj Niwas was exposed yet again on Friday with the former accusing Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena of sitting on “important files” and causing delay in public work.
“Due to the L-G’s inexperience in administration, even the smallest of matters pertaining to Delhi are pending, causing delays in work related to public interest,” said a government source.
‘Pending since June 7’
The AAP government is particularly peeved over the delay in clearance to a file related to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s participation in the World Cities Summit in Singapore in the first week of August to present the ‘Delhi Model’. Sources said the file had been stuck at Raj Niwas for the last three weeks.
“The L-G has withheld the file on the Chief Minister’s visit to Singapore since June 7,” the source said.
Such delays, according to the source, had “never happened in Delhi’s history”. “In fact, during the tenure of Mr. Saxena’s predecessor [Anil Baijal] files pertaining to the Chief Minister’s visits were cleared and sent back to the Delhi government in one or two days,” said the source.
Raj Niwas did not offer a reaction on the allegations even as Delhi government sources accused Mr. Saxena of sitting on files on which he had “nothing to aid or advise” the government.
Invitation to CM
Mr. Kejriwal is supposed to present the ‘Delhi’s story of change’ at the Summit 2022 in Singapore. According to government sources, Singapore High Commissioner Simon Wong, on behalf of their government, had invited the Chief Minister to take part in the event. The programme will serve as a platform for government leaders and industry experts to address liveable and sustainable city challenges and share integrated urban solutions.
“He [Mr. Wong] presented an invitation to the CM from the Prime Minister’s Office of Singapore. The CM said he is looking forward to attending the event and will send a formal acceptance to the invitation,” the source said.
“The World Cities Summit is jointly organised by Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities and the Urban Redevelopment Authority. The Summit will be held on August 2 and 3,” the source said.
