Saurabh Bhardwaj Targets BJP Over De-Silting Audit

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi State President Saurabh Bhardwaj has made serious allegations against the Delhi government. He has accused the government of corruption in de-silting works and ignoring the orders of the Delhi High Court. Bhardwaj says that the High Court had directed to conduct an independent third party audit of these works on 8 April 2024, but the BJP government did not follow this order.

Saurabh Bhardwaj told during a press conference held at the party headquarters that he had asked a question to the Delhi government, in which he mentioned the direction of Delhi High Court dated 8 April 2024. This direction states that the third party audit of the de-silting work done by the government should be done by an independent agency, and this order is binding on the Delhi government. He expressed his desire to know whether the government has got a third party audit of the de-silting work done as per the court's order.

Saurabh Bhardwaj said that he raised this question because he has been expressing his concern on this issue for many years. The High Court has also admitted that there is widespread corruption in the de-silting work. It is limited only on paper, while the contractors are paid for the work, but in reality no work is done. Giving an example, he said that the problem of waterlogging after the recent light rain in Delhi is a clear proof of this.

Saurabh Bhardwaj alleged that it is clear that the officials knew that de-silting is happening only on paper. He said that if this matter is investigated, many high-ranking officials may get trapped, so a third party audit of de-silting was not done for the purpose of hiding corruption. Bhardwaj in his letter also requested Chief Minister Rekha Gupta to investigate why a third party audit of the de-silting work was not conducted last year despite him writing several letters to Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar.

The AAP leader said that this year too, a third party audit of the de-silting work is not being done, which is a matter of concern. He suggested that if the audit is not being done, then it should be investigated as to why it is happening. He also mentioned that former Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar has been one of the officials close to the BJP, due to which he does not expect Chief Minister Rekha Gupta to order an ACB inquiry against him. If the BJP government does not order an ACB inquiry in this matter, it will become clear that the government is active in hiding the corruption taking place in de-silting.