'LG Can't Enjoy Power Without Accountability': AAP After Delhi HC Cognisance Of Sewer Cleaners Death
On September 9, a sweeper and a security guard died after they inhaled toxic gases inside a sewer they had gone down to clean in Outer Delhi’s Mundka area, the police had said.
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party took a swipe at Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena after the Delhi government took cognizance of the death of two people during cleaning of a sewer in the city. Targeting the LG, under whom comes the Delhi Development Authority, the AAP said that the former was responsible for the tragic incident, reported news agency PTI.
The Delhi government cannot “enjoy power without accountability”, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a statement on Monday, reported the news agency.
"I thank Delhi High Court's Chief Justice Satish Sharma for taking suo motu cognisance of the case and asking how the incident happened when manual scavenging is banned in Delhi," said Bharadwaj who is also the Delhi Jal Board vice president.
On September 9, a sweeper and a security guard died after they inhaled toxic gases inside a sewer they had gone down to clean in Outer Delhi’s Mundka area, the police had said.
"The DDA, which comes directly under the LG, is responsible for these two deaths... The LG can not enjoy power without accountability," he added.
The DJB vice president said that he took cognisance of the incident and sought a report from his office soon after he read about it in the newspapers.
"We waited for the LG Office to step up and accept their responsibility but the dead silence that they maintained, besides the evasiveness of the BJP leaders, is shameful," he said, targeting Saxena.
The AAP leader also alleged the LG Office to have gone to “extreme lengths” to misguide the high court in this matter. He also questioned the LG for not meeting with the families of the victims.
The AAP spokesperson also alleged that the “department in question was evading the issue and not owning up to its "grave crime" as in this case, right from the sewer line and its sewerage to the pumping station, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had complete control over the operations.
Taking suo motu cognizance of the incident, a high court bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad directed registering a public interest litigation and issued notice to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi government and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in the matter on the basis of a news report dated September 11.
The court also appointed senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao as the amicus curiae (friend of the court) to assist it.
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