India News | Delhi Assembly Panel Accuses Finance Dept Officers of Impeding DJB's Work

New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) The Delhi Legislative Assembly's Petitions Committee on Tuesday accused officials of the city government's finance department of impeding public welfare work of the Delhi Jal Board.

A petition had been filed before the panel regarding the stalling of work, including laying of sewer and water lines, in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). The committee summoned senior officials of the utility and the finance department in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday to discuss the matter.

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Panel member Saurabh Bhardwaj, who is also the vice chairman of DJB, alleged that the work has been largely stalled due to "constant obstructions" by the principal secretary of the finance department.

"The Principal Secretary, Finance Department, raised many objections to giving funds to the DJB, that is why only about two-thirds of the money could be spent," a statement quoted Bhardwaj as saying.

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DJB officials, the statement said, informed the committee that Principal Secretary (Finance) Ashish Chandra did not release funds despite requests. Contractors could not be paid and a lot of the work could not be completed.

Bhardwaj later inspected the functioning of the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant (WTP) where he instructed officials to improve water quality and increase water production.

He also directed the officials to start the non-functional tube wells along the WTP.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)