BJP believes in improving, not dismantling slums: Bidhuri

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The Delhi unit of BJP on Sunday said it believes “in improving, not dismantling,” the jhuggi clusters in the city and would create a separate government department for slums’ maintenance if voted to power in the upcoming Delhi Assembly poll.

“Our upcoming government will create a separate department to ensure cleanliness in the Jhuggi settlements,” BJP South Delhi MP Ramveer Singh Bidhuri said on his visit to V. P. Singh Camp, a slum cluster in Tughlakabad.

According to the 2022-23 government report, there are 675 slum clusters in the city, housing around 15.5 lakh people.

Last month, the BJP launched ‘Ratri Pravas Samvad Abhiyaan’, a poll campaign to reach voters in the slums. Under the ongoing campaign, the BJP leaders and workers interact with slum dwellers and spend a night in their homes.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, who visited Rajiv Camp in Krishna Market of Jhilmil, said his party was “the first to directly communicate with people, especially the youth, in all the jhuggi clusters” and understand their problems.

“Through our workers, functioning as Jhuggi Vistarks, we have understood the life and problems of the residents of these clusters,” Mr. Sachdeva said.

Leader of Opposition Vijendra Gupta, who visited a slum in Badli Industrial Area, said his party will ensure slum dwellers get quality education.

‘Jhuggi tourism’

Terming BJP’s campaign as “jhuggi tourism”, AAP alleged, “BJP feasts with slum residents on one day and demolishing their homes the next day, revealing its two-faced duplicity.”

“[Former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has transformed the lives of residents [slum dwellers] by providing quality education, healthcare, free pilgrimages for seniors, free bus rides for women, and 24x7 free electricity,” AAP said in a statement.

Published - December 16, 2024 12:58 am IST