Centre and Delhi govt exchange barbs over Anaj Mandi fire tragedy

The Delhi government on Wednesday accused Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri of making "politically loaded and false" statements against it in connection with the Anaj Mandi fire tragedy.

A blame game has started between the AAP government and the BJP-led Centre over the fire tragedy that claimed 43 lives of poor workers at Anaj Mandi on Sunday.

In a statement, the Delhi urban development department accused Puri of trying to "personally targeting" the minister of the department, Satyendar Jain.

At the core of the blame game is redevelopment of the old Delhi areas, including Anaj Mandi, and fixing responsibility of the agencies responsible for the tragedy.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday night, Puri mounted a blistering attack on the AAP government accusing it of "insensitivity" and "administrative inexperience".

He said that Centre's Hriday scheme was announced in 2014 for 12 cities and Delhi was not included in it.

"It should take a huge amount of insensitivity on the part of a govt representative to mindlessly mix up the loss of 43 precious human lives with a beautification project under Hriday scheme. But now that he has raised it let me set the record straight," Puri had tweeted.

"This is also where their administrative inexperience comes to fore. They are clearly not able to prioritize issues. So they leave something of the magnitude of Redevelopment of Special Areas hanging & instead talk about beautification plans," he had said in another tweet.

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and its minister have been making "politically loaded and false" statements against the elected Delhi government after the Anaj Mandi fire incident, the Delhi government's Urban Development department said.

"In these statements, the Union minister has also tried to personally target Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain for the reasons best known to the him," it said.

Retaliating to Puri's charge, it stated Delhi government's revitalisation proposal for Sahjahanabad area was not about beautification.

"The statement by the Union Minister last evening, reflects his ignorance about the revitalisation proposal submitted by the Delhi Government, as it is not about beautification of the Sahajahanabad Area (a Special Area as per Master Plan of Delhi-2021), but a revitalisation plan with an objective to improve the living conditions and safety of residents, traders, labourers etc," it said.

The primary project report for the area included infrastructural components such as undergrounding of electrical cables, street fire hydrants, etc. This plan also envisaged social and livelihood protection of workers working in hazardous and inhuman conditions, it added.