Delhi LG playing politics over demolition of religious structures: Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena on Sunday of "playing politics" over the matter of demolition of religious structures, while stressing that decisions over making any changes to such places cannot be taken in haste.

In a fresh tussle between the LG and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, Saxena has recalled files related to several pending infrastructure projects citing "inaction" on the part of the city government, officials said.

They alleged that despite the recommendations of a committee to remove the "unauthorised religious structures" that have held up several key infrastructure projects, the Delhi government's home department, headed by Sisodia, has kept 78 such proposals from various agencies pending since May last year.

Responding to the allegation, Sisodia said the LG has issued a statement saying he has called for files related to the demolition of religious structures.

"The LG has claimed that the said files have been held up by my department. It is deeply unfortunate that the LG is choosing to play politics over such a sensitive matter. The matter in question concerns giving clearance for demolition of several religious structures, including many big temples that have existed for decades in the city," he said in a statement.

Any decision over making any alterations to such structures cannot be taken in haste, let alone allowing those to be demolished, he added.

The minister said all factors concerning the matter will be taken into consideration. Asserting that the government does not want to hurt the religious feelings of anyone, he said the impact of such punitive action is being looked into.

"Any decision taken without proper assessment may lead to an adverse situation in the society and thus, we will only take a call over it after carefully examining each and every aspect," Sisodia said.

Recalling how the LG's approval to a file pertaining to sending government school teachers to Finland for training is still pending, he also highlighted certain facts related to other proposals of the government.

"It is pertinent to ask the LG whether bulldozing temples of Delhi is more important than sending government school teachers to Finland? The file has been pending with him for months now. The LG has held back the approval on the appointment of principals on 244 posts and asked the department to conduct an assessment study to check whether these principals are required in schools or not.

"These posts had been lying vacant for over the past five years. What kind of a joke is this? It is baffling that he, despite being the LG of the national capital, has time to play petty politics but not clear public interest projects," Sisodia alleged.

The minister, who also holds the education portfolio, said the city government had sent a proposal to amend the Education Act to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for its clearance.

"Had the amendment been approved, we would have been able to regulate private schools. But the MHA has been sitting on the file for seven years. The LG calls himself the 'local guardian' of Delhi, why doesn't he get that file cleared from the MHA? Is it because he considers demolition of religious structures more urgent than giving good education to children?" he asked.

Sisodia also alleged that the Delhi government had appointed a counsel to look into the Nitish Katara murder case, but the "LG has held up that file too".

He requested the LG and his office to "stop interfering and impending upon the works of the elected government".

"There are dozens of files pending for the LG to clear, he should look into those files instead of using his position to play politics. The LG's actions cast aspersions on his priorities. The people of Delhi have given Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal an unprecedented mandate to govern the state, I fold my hands and beseech the LG not to disrespect the people's mandate now and let the elected government function peacefully," Sisodia said.

The officials said invoking his powers under rule 19(5) of the Transaction of Business of the GNCTD Rules (ToBR), 1993, the LG has ordered a recall of all files pending for more than a month at the ministers' level from the home department.

Rule 19(5) of the ToBR empowers the LG to recall files pending inordinately with ministers or the chief minister in public interest. The rule forces the government to send the files to the LG, irrespective of whether it has approved those or not, the officials explained.

The projects that have been held up include the decongestion of critical traffic corridors, such as the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road, the Mehrauli-Badarpur road, Dhaula Kuan-RTR Marg, Ring Road at various sites, Loni Road and the Vijay Nagar-Burari stretch, completion of works on the Delhi stretches of the Delhi-Saharanpur and Delhi-Dehradun expressways and construction of housing projects for government employees.