The Hindu : Sheila denies Ananth's charge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 13, 2002

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Other States - New Delhi

Sheila denies Ananth's charge

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI NOV. 12. Making it clear that no consultations were held with the Delhi Government on the framing of the Metro Railway (Operations and Maintenance) Bill, 2002, or the Ordinance , the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, has termed the Union Urban Development Minister, Ananth Kumar's claim as misleading and wrong.

At the same time, the Chief Minister said that with the Metro rail slated to get operational next month, there was an urgent need to take the Delhi Government into confidence before deciding on the mode of the inaugural function and when it would be held.

I hope we will not read about the venue, date and mode of function from newspaper reports as had happened in the case of the Metro Rail Ordinance. It was important that the Delhi Government was consulted on whatever the plans were with regard to the inaugural function so as to make it a historic and memorable event,'' she added. Ms. Dikshit said she had written to Mr. Ananth Kumar in this regard.

She pointed out that the Centre had till date not even bothered to officially communicate about the promulgation of an Ordinance despite repeated requests and a number of phone calls. "We have only come to know about the Ordinance through the newspapers and no copy of the Ordinance has been officially given to us. This is not a very happy situation and certainly is an attempt to undermine the authority of a duly elected Government,'' the Chief Minister said.

Interestingly, Delhi is an equal partner in the Metro Rail project and would be repaying the loan availed from the Japanese Government for this purpose.

In fact, the comments by the Union Minister that he and the Delhi Chief Minister might address a joint press briefing next time to buttress his claim of coordination and consultation might remain an unfulfilled dream.

The Chief Minister made it clear that at no point of time was the Delhi Government consulted by the Central Government and in fact the points highlighted by it in the draft Bill sent to the Union Government were never considered at any point of time.

She denied the charge made by the Union Minister that the Delhi Government sat on the draft Bill for almost two years. In fact, she said that the Delhi Government had sent an interim reply and later a detailed response on the issue. She said the Centre never bothered to send a reply to the Delhi Government on the draft Bill cleared by the Delhi Cabinet and sent to the Union Government for clearance.

Ms. Dikshit is learnt to have pointed out that there has been a deliberate attempt by the BJP-led Government at the Centre to curtail the powers of the Congress Government and in the process strike at the very roots of the democratically-elected Government.

The Metro rail, she said, was the dream of Delhiites and no attempts should be made to politicise it by raking up party politics. There has been a calculated plan to sideline the Delhi Government which was something not acceptable to us, she added.

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Sheila denies Ananth's charge