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New Delhi, Oct 9 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given top priority to cleaning the Yamuna, and criticized the previous AAP government for not fighting pollution in the river.
He mocked former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying he failed to keep his promise of taking a dip in clean Yamuna water. “Even when his cut-out was made for taking a dip in the Yamuna, he was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital due to illness,” he said.
He was speaking at an event organized to launch 18 projects worth Rs 1,816 crore, including sewage treatment projects to prevent pollution of Yamuna.
HM Shah also remembered the contribution of late BJP MP and former Delhi BJP chief Vijay Kumar Malhotra in improving the city.
“Just two days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed 24 years at the head of the government as PM and CM,” he said.
He said, “PM Modi is a great personality who has taken many steps to realize the dreams of freedom fighters. He gave good governance and took the country on the path of development around the centenary of independence.”
HM Shah said that 80 percent of the projects inaugurated or whose foundation stone was laid on Thursday are related to the cleaning of Yamuna.
PM Modi has planned to clean Yamuna from Yamunotri to Prayagraj within seven months.
He said, “The disaster in Delhi was that the government did nothing to clean the river. Their CM had announced that he would clean the river and take a dip in it. He did not keep his promise but when Parvesh Sahib Singh dipped his cut-out in the polluted river, he too fell ill in Safdarjung Hospital.”
Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had hit out at the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi government for not making the most of the Rs 2,000 crore assistance given by the Center for cleaning the Yamuna.
He criticized the failure of the previous government to utilize the funds introduced for this purpose by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and HM Shah.
Highlighting his government’s seriousness towards cleaning the river, CM Gupta said, “Our government has started work on cleaning the river by conducting drone and physical survey of 22 big and 200 small drains falling into the Yamuna.”
“I would like to thank the central government and Home Minister Amit Shah for supporting our efforts,” she said.
“I want to reiterate that this is just the beginning of our commitment to serve the people and many more initiatives will be taken in the future,” she said.
The 18 projects worth Rs 1,816 crore inaugurated by HM Shah include expansion and installation of sewage treatment plants at Kondli, Kehopur, Rohini, Coronation Pillar, Narela, Yamuna Vihar and Najafgarh.
The projects also include Siraspur and other water reservoirs and pumping stations.
–IANS
RCH/UK