PANAJI
'Talk to AK’, the first live interactive session of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with public, telecast on Sunday morning saw the Aam Aadmi Party supremo present Goa’s third bridge across River Mandovi as an example of cost escalation of a State project.
“Work on Goa’s Mandovi Bridge began in June 2014 at an estimated cost of Rs 470 crore. But today, the project estimates have gone up to Rs 887 crore,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal referred to the ambitious project while juxtaposing it with the cost reduction achieved by AAP government in Delhi. It was observed that the cost skyrockets with the delay in completion of a project.
He further said that several projects initiated by the previous Congress government in Delhi were not only completed by AAP government in time but that his government also succeeded in saving money.
“When we took over, five flyovers were under progress. We finished these projects estimated at Rs 350 crore within Rs 200 crore. For the first time in 65 years, government money was saved,” he stated on live telecast.
Kejriwal made several references to Goa and also Punjab and Gujarat, possibly with an eye on the upcoming Assembly polls.
For instance, he explained that the idea of ‘Talk to AK’ struck him after his visit to Goa. “When I visited Goa, we had invited college students to meet us for an interaction. The hall was packed with around 1,000 young college students. I was asked interesting questions for around two straight hours. These reflected the concerns of the youth. I realised that the questions asked by media are different from those public would ask. Hence, I decided to have a direct interaction with the people,” said Kejriwal.
During the second half of the session, when the Delhi CM began responding to questions, one Ravi from Goa asked him, “Why are you against the central government all the time? Are you playing the victim card to hide reality?”
To this, Kejriwal response was, “I have presented facts and I am not playing victim card. We are not victims. Delhi is the victim of narrow politics of Central government.”
While delineating his government’s work so far, Kejriwal said that immense stress was laid on four crucial sectors of education, health, electricity and water. While his policies on water and electricity supply have gained a lot of publicity, he sought to throw light on the fact that his government has increased the budgetary allocation to education by 100 per cent from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore. The allocation to health sector has also been doubled with the aim of ‘allowing easy access to these fundamental rights’.
The AAP leader came down heavily on the no-detention policy. He informed that the Delhi government’s legislation scrapping this policy was pending with the Central government since eight months.
Throughout the session, Kejriwal repeated that if AAP is given the opportunity to form the government in Goa, the progress made in Delhi at grassroot levels, be it provision of quality education and world-class infrastructure in government schools or availability of superior medical care through a three-tier government medical sector, all will be emulated in the State.
“If this can happen in Delhi, then why not in Goa and Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh? All you need is political will,” he said.
