Opposition Alleges Delhi Government Not Cooperating In Probe Into Delhi Jal Board Scam

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said the AAP Govt did not prepare balance sheets of DJB to suppress facts.

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Delhi Legislative Assembly Vijender Gupta has alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is deliberately not cooperating with Chief Vigilance Officer and Chief Secretary Dharmendra who is investigating a scam in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). The order for probe into the scam was given by Lt Governor VK Saxena last year.

Corruption in Delhi Jal Board

Ahead of elections to the Assembly, BJP is trying its best to corner the Aam Aadmi Party government by seizing the issue. Gupta accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of breaking all records of corruption and said the government is suppressing facts deliberately. The Chief Secretary had submitted a report related to financial irregularities in DJB to the then Water Minister of Delhi Atishi on March 15, 2024.

Chief Secretary's report

The report states the DJB was under a debt of Rs 73,000 crores. As per the report, an amount of Rs 28,500 crore was given to DJB from 2015 to 2024 for implementation of several projects. The Opposition alleged there is no account of how much was spent on the projects.

Govt did not prepare balance sheet

Gupta, in his complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission, slammed the Delhi government and said it deliberately did not prepare the balance sheet of Delhi Jal Board after 2018. He said that after the intervention of the High Court, the government got the balance sheet of the first three years prepared, but that of the next two years (2021-22 and 2022-23) was kept pending. As a result, the expenditure of DJB could not be audited by the CAG. "This clearly shows there is a deep conspiracy to hide financial irregularities and corruption," said Gupta. He said in the last 10 years, neither there has been any improvement in water supply in Delhi nor the work of cleaning the Yamuna has been completed. Gupta questioned since vital projects were implemented how did DJB spend the funds allocated to it.

A report was prepared by the Chief Secretary of Delhi regarding financial irregularities in DJB. On September 5, 2024, a letter was sent to the Central Vigilance Commission demanding an investigation into the financial irregularities and corruption in DJB. Taking cognizance of this, the Commission sent the complaint to Dharmendra, the Chief Vigilance Officer and Chief Secretary of Delhi on September 13, 2024 and asked him to investigate and submit his report. Dharmendra sent a letter to the CEO of DJB on October 14, 2024 and ordered him to investigate the matter and send his report. But the DJB did not take any action on the matter after which the CVO sent a reminder on November 6, 2024 and asked the CEO to take immediate action in this matter and investigate before sending his report. The CVO said he has not received any reply from DJB till date.