Rajnath conducts 'surprise' inspection across City

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi made surprise inspection visits in the capital to check cleanliness on Tuesday. Lax municipal corporation officials have been repatriated to their parent cadres, sources said.

Last month, Singh had asked the Delhi Police to ensure cleanliness days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Singh visited New Delhi railway station, Paharganj police station, Lok Nayak Hospital, Shivaji Stadium bus terminal and JJ Colony in central Delhi’s Meer Dard Road. At first, Singh went to Shivaji Stadium bus terminal and enquired about the transport difficulties from the passengers.

Then he went to New Delhi railway station, where he inspected the entry and exit points, a Sulabh toilet complex and a taxi stand. He asked for maintaining cleanliness at different places.

The home minister then went to Paharganj police station, where he inspected offices, women’s help desk, lock-up and functioning of the CCTV cameras. On October 4, Singh had instructed Bassi for cleaning of all police stations and other police complexes.

Singh said there was improvement in the condition of police stations and other complexes, and a lot more was yet to be done to make them “people and environment” friendly.

Continuing with his surprise inspection, Singh next headed for the office of Deputy Commissioner (City Zone) North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Hemender Kumar, and interacted with people facing difficulties in municipal corporation offices. He also directed the deputy commissioner to keep the complex and parking zone neat and clean as he found old and seized vehicles dumped in the parking.

Their leader Ramavatar Das told journalists that the home minister told the delegation that he would speak to the Haryana government. “We lay down in front of the home minister’s car and he was forced to emerge from it and speak to us,” Das claimed.

The supporters had originally planned to gherao the Supreme Court. In a press release to the media on Monday, they had warned that several of Rampal’s disciples would self-immolate in front of the court if efforts to arrest him was not stopped.

But police persuaded the disciples to shift their demonstrations to Jantar Mantar. Members of Rashtriya Samaj Seva Samiti that organised the dharna said devotees had assembled from other states, apart from neighbouring Nepal.

However, majority were from Delhi. “Call all your known family and friends to Jantar Mantar. Tell them this is the time to stand by maharaj ji,” one of the organisers called out to the supporters amidst chants of prayers. The people gathered at Jantar Mantar used WhatsApp and Facebook to spread the message even as they watched the Hisar drama unfold on their smartphones.