Delhi Environment Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gopal Rai on Friday criticized the Centre and called for action against Delhi Development Authority (DDA) workers after a woman and her child drowned in an uncovered DDA drain.
Highlighting the hypocrisy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for politicizing the Rajinder Nagar Coaching Institute case while remaining silent on the death of the woman and child, Gopal Rai stated that the Lieutenant Governor (LG) must question the workers responsible for the accident.
“It is unfortunate that BJP workers stay silent when a woman and her child die after falling into a DDA drain. Have the BJP leaders stopped protesting now? Have they gone blind?” said Delhi Minister Gopal Rai during a press conference in Delhi.
Rai mentioned that BJP leaders were taken aback when they realized that the uncovered drain, where two people had died, was under the jurisdiction of the DDA rather than the Public Works Department (PWD).
“When the incident happened, some BJP leaders even rushed to the spot to make a video, but they were shocked when they learned that the drain is under DDA. Now that they know the drain falls under DDA, all of them have gone silent,” Gopal Rai added.
“We demand that the LG should immediately take action against the DDA workers responsible. The family of the victim should be given compensation, and the BJP must break its silence on the issue,” he added.
A woman and her child drowned on Wednesday after falling into a waterlogged drain in Ghazipur, near the Mayur Vihar area of East Delhi, following heavy rainfall in the national capital. The deceased were identified as Tanuja (22) and her child, Priyansh (3), residents of Prakash Nagar Khoda Colony.
A plea has also been filed in the Delhi High Court concerning the incident. The plea seeks accountability from the contractor responsible for the drain and requests a comprehensive audit of ongoing drain construction projects, including flood mitigation measures. The court is scheduled to hear the matter on August 5.
The plea further seeks directions to the respondents to frame and adopt policies to address and mitigate the flood-like situation in Delhi during rainfall and to cover all open drains in Delhi with immediate effect, along with proper signage educating the public to stay away from the drains.
