Swachh Bharat Mission failed in Delhi, BJP-led MCDs to blame: Satyendra Jain

Satyendra Jain said civic bodies failed to clean city and it led to spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases.

The Swachh Bharat Mission has been unsuccessful in the national capital, which tops the "filth" category list, as all three Bharatiya Janata Party-led civic bodies failed to clean the city leading to spurt in chikungunya and dengue cases, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain alleged.

Responding to discussions in the Delhi Assembly on cleanliness, he alleged that instead of cleanliness, the municipal corporations are focusing on "making money" through "wrongdoings".

"The MCDs have failed to clean Delhi, due to which the Prime Minister's Swachh Bharat Mission has failed. They (MCDs) are focusing on how to make money.

"In the wake of the MCDs failing to fumigate across the city, the government started doing fogging on its own, but they tried to scuttle this efforts of our," Jain alleged.

AAP MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam on Friday moved a resolution blaming BJP-controlled MCDs for the spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases and said had the civic bodies fulfilled their responsibilities on time, spread of vector-borne diseases could have been prevented.

The health minister said civic bodies have the primary responsibility of cleaning city, but they are not doing so which led to spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases.

The government has set up 355 fever clinics in 2016, Jain said, adding government hospitals have been directed not to refuse any patients.

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, however, refuted Jain's allegations and accused the Kejriwal government of "politicising" the prevalence of the vector-borne diseases in Delhi.

"The Delhi government has neither any vision nor plan for prevention and control of these dangerous diseases," Gupta alleged, adding rather than being concerned about these diseases and taking appropriate measures, the government is interested in political one-upmanship.

"The Central government issued 12 advisories from February 1 to September, cautioning the city government against these dreaded diseases but it did not take corrective measures in time leading to spread of these diseases on almost epidemic proportions," he added.