New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) The BJP on Thursday blamed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the death of 331 homeless people in the last 45 days due to cold conditions in the national capital, saying his government has failed on all fronts.
“The winter season comes as a disaster for the homeless of Delhi as every year more than 200 homeless people die in December itself,” Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said addresing a press conference.
Citing the report of the Centre for Holistic Development (CHD), Tiwari said, “The recently published report of the CHD has revealed that during the last 45 days, 331 homeless people have died in the national capital.”
He said according to CHD data, 96 people have died within 14 days of January and in the coming days of January this number may go up.
The BJP MP from North-East Delhi constituency said in north Delhi itself, 23 homeless people have died, which is the highest for any part of Delhi.
“The responsibility of providing shelter to the homeless people of Delhi lies with the Delhi government,” he said.
Citing the data provided by the Shelter Board of Delhi, Tiwari said, “More than 200 shelter homes were set up for the homeless but the reality about these shelter homes was shown to everyone by the media.
“In spite of all these, Kejriwal spent crores of rupees in the name of shelter homes. The Kejriwal government has not only failed on every front, but it is also responsible for the death of these homeless people,” he said.
Citing the data of last four years, Tiwari said that since the Aam Aadmi Party government came to power in Delhi, every year in December, more than 250 people die.
He said that in 2015 December, 251 homeless people died, in 2016 December, 235 people lost their lives, while in 2017 December, this number was 250.
“In 2018 December, 235 died due to intense cold conditions. And if we compile this data for the whole year, then the total number of 3,222 homeless people died in 2015, 3,398 people in 2016, 2,979 in 2017 and 3,289 in 2018 in Delhi,” he claimed.
Tiwari also said that the data was not only shocking but also shameful for Delhi and the country. “But Kejriwal does not take this problem seriously. Kejriwal and his government are responsible for the deaths of these homeless people every year in Delhi,” he added.
–IANS
aks/prs