Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said that a statement issued by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation on the Anaj Mandi fire, blaming the AAP government, had glaring factual “inaccuracies” and “errors”.
A statement released by the Ministry on Sunday stated: “MPD-2021 mandates MCD [municipal corporation] to prepare the Redevelopment Plan for Special Area. This was prepared by North DMC and cleared by technical committee of DDA. The finalised plan was approved by the corporation in March 2017.
“It was sent to the Urban Development Department of Delhi Government for notification in official Gazette in April 2017. But despite providing all clarifications sought from time to time, it is still pending for notification. What were these departments waiting for?”
Responding to Ministry’s claim, an official statement by the Delhi government on Tuesday said, “Not only did Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain receive this file on August 26 this year, he cleared it in less than 24 hours.” “The Union Ministry is spreading false claims about the Redevelopment Plan for Special Area. It owes an answer as to why it chose to remain silent and why did it not cooperate in the proposal submitted to it for the redevelopment of Shahjahanabad in accordance with the zonal plan? It would have paved way to redevelop Old Delhi in a much integrated manner,” the statement said.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri termed Mr. Jain’s statements as “misleading” and “covert propaganda”.
‘Misleading claims’
“The content of the statement are as astonishing as they are misleading. Those in the highest echelons of power in Delhi Government have not realised the seriousness of the loss of 43 lives in a devastating tragedy. So they continue to engage in frivolous statements,” Mr. Puri said.
“To begin with, I am surprised that instead of undoing the wrong and taking corrective action to prevent tragedies like the one we unfortunately witnessed on Sunday, politicians ruling Delhi are engaging in such covert propaganda,” he added.
