Solving traffic congestion key agenda for next 5 years: Kejriwal

Addressing traffic congestion in Delhi would be a focus area of the AAP government in the next five years if it is reelected, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday.

Another priority area would be providing clean water to everyone, he said addressing the people in a town-hall meeting in North West Delhi's Pitampura.

"Steps in various directions are needed to resolve the issue of traffic congestion in Delhi. The wide roads in Delhi turn into a narrow three or four-lane roads after a few miles, resulting in a bottleneck situation and heavy traffic jams at some particular locations," the chief minister said.

Roads at various locations in Delhi need to be redesigned which can bring about a big change in the traffic movement, he added.

"We have designated a consultant to create a list of the locations in Delhi where there are daily traffic jams. The designated consultant will provide us with a roadmap or a report within 9-10 months on how to solve the problem of traffic congestion in these locations," he said.

"We will start working on resolving congestion issues on each road mentioned in the list, and we will be able to do it at the earliest. Just as we have worked on addressing issues in the fields of education, health, power, water, sewer, and drainage, etc in the last five years, we will work on resolving traffic congestion issues in the next five years," Kejriwal said.

He also promised that in the next five years each resident will get round the clock drinking water supply.

"It is being said that the water is bad. I'm drinking water straight from the tap," Kejriwal said and drank a glass of water drawn apparently from the tap.

"When our government was formed five years ago, around 2,300 areas in Delhi received contaminated water. We created a list of all such locations as well as causes of the contamination and deployed various resources for the resolution of the issue in each of those areas. Now, only 150 areas in Delhi receive contaminated water, and we are working on providing clean water to these areas as well," he said.

He further said that when the AAP government was formed, only 58 per cent of colonies in Delhi received tap water, and the rest of the colonies received water from tankers.

"Now, 93 per cent of Delhi receives tap water. Our next step is to provide a 24-hour water supply to the people of Delhi," the chief minister said.

Taking a dig at the Centre, Kejriwal said the AAP-led Delhi government will do all the work and if they (Centre) wants to take credit for it they can do that.

"'You take the credit, but let's work together to provide clean drinking water 24x7," said Kejriwal, responding to Home Minister Amit Shah's allegation.

Shah, while addressing an event of the Delhi Development Authority, had said the AAP dispensation has obstructed Centre's schemes and urged people to choose a government in the next election that will ensure peace in the national capital.

"Kejriwal has not implemented Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Ayushman Bharat. He only wants to put his name on our pet projects," Shah said on Thursday.

Kejriwal said the AAP manifesto will be released around mid-January 2020 and it will consist of all issues that would be addressed in the next five years.

"The issues that we will target in our next manifesto will be discussed and deliberated with the people. We are creating a list in consideration with the people. For instance, we addressed the issue of cleanliness and sanitation of Delhi in a public meeting yesterday, and we believe it is a very important issue for the people," he said.

"Like yesterday, where we discussed cleanliness as an important aspect, we addressed the issue of traffic congestion today. We will continue to discuss and add an issue each day to ensure that all important points are covered in our manifesto, which is to be released around January 15th-20," he added.

Kejriwal said the AAP government will continue to provide people-centric schemes.

"The previous governments have not done it, and we do not care about whether they will do it in the future, but we will make sure that we continue to work for the welfare of the people," he said.

This was the second town hall meeting held by Kejriwal. The first town hall meeting was held on Thursday where the chief minister promised to make Delhi "the cleanest city in the world" if the AAP was reelected to power.

Kejriwal started Friday's town hall meeting by asking people of the impact of the Delhi government policies on their lives.

Several people appreciated the government policies and narrated how they have been implemented effectively by the MLAs of the area.