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New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party had raised questions on the appointment of the administrator of Asha Kiran Ashray Griha and tried to surround Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. On this, the LG office has now responded. The LG office said, ‘The administrator of Asha Kiran Home was appointed internally by the Social Welfare Department, which is a subject completely transferred to the control of the CM/Minister. He was not appointed by the LG. After the approval of the then LG, he was posted in the Social Welfare Department as DANICS Officer on 15 February 2021. After this, the minister posted him as the administrator of Asha Kiran Home. The press statement issued by AAP is completely false and misleading.’
The LG office also said, ‘There is no minister in the Social Welfare Department since Raj Kumar Anand resigned. Even while out on bail, CM Arvind Kejriwal got time to accept Anand’s resignation and send it to the LG, but he did not appoint a new minister in a sensitive department. Whereas it requires the most political oversight compared to any other department. Whereas Saurabh Bhardwaj has the shameful audacity to talk about accountability?’
What is the whole matter?
In fact, AAP on Saturday questioned Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena as to why an officer who was earlier suspended on charges of taking bribe has been appointed as the administrator of Asha Kiran shelter home, where 14 people died in July.
Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed in a press conference that the administrator of the shelter home, Rahul Agarwal, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2016 on charges of taking bribe and he remained suspended for five years.
He said, ‘I want to know on what basis the Lieutenant Governor appointed Rahul Agarwal as the administrator of the shelter home, where various irregularities and deficiencies have come to light after an exceptionally large number of deaths of mentally challenged people.’
Bhardwaj also questioned the Lieutenant Governor as to why no action has been taken so far against the shelter home administrator and the secretary of the social welfare department in this case. The AAP leader said that the right to transfer and appoint officers is retained by the Lieutenant Governor through the Services Department and the responsibility for this also lies with him. Bhardwaj also claimed that no action was taken against any officer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) or Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in other cases of deaths in Old Rajendra Nagar and East Delhi.
He questioned why no action was taken against the Chief Secretary for not giving the report of ‘third party’ audit for cleaning of drains. Addressing a press conference in the matter, AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak said that there could be no bigger stigma for any society than this. He alleged, ‘We got information two-three days ago that 14 people had died there because they were not given proper water, food and medical facilities.’
He also claimed that Agarwal was earlier arrested by the CBI in a corruption case. “The question here is why did the Lt Governor give charge of the shelter home to Agarwal even after knowing this. It has been two days, why no action has been taken against these people. The vigilance report on Agarwal should also be made public,” Pathak demanded. The Delhi government on Friday ordered a magisterial probe into the death of 14 children at Asha Kiran shelter home in Rohini last month. The Lt Governor has also ordered a probe into the functioning of Delhi government shelter homes, including the deaths at Asha Kiran.
