JOIN USMohalla clinic construction work halted
The AAP government's mohalla clinic project has hit a roadblock in north Delhi's Majnu Ka Tila area after the municipality allegedly threatened to register an FIR against officials if they continued the construction work.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Alka Lamba had inaugurated the construction work of a mohalla clinic at Majnu Ka Tila on Wednesday.
“The construction work has been stopped today as the municipal corporation said that the work was started without informing them and threatened to lodge an FIR against government officials,” Lamba told Deccan Herald on Thursday.
The three municipal corporations in Delhi are dominated by AAP rival Bharatiya Janata Party.
“People of all ages including young and the elderly participated in the inauguration of the construction work of the clinic yesterday, thinking they will get medical facilities in the neighbourhood. But now it seems they will be deprived of such healthcare facilities,” Lamba said.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation said that the land where the mohalla clinic was being constructed belongs to the civic agency.
“The city government's Public Works Department (PWD) is only the 'land maintaining agency'. It cannot carry out construction work on the land," said a senior North Corporation official.
“We have intimated the government earlier also to stop illegally occupying public land,” he added. The AAP lawmaker said the government is not challenging the corporation's claim to the land.
“But at least the corporation can stop politicising the issue and let the mohalla clinic come up at Majnu Ka Tila, which will help in providing better healthcare facilities to the locals,” Lamba said.
The issue of encroachment of public land was raised at the Standing Committee meeting of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. The Municipal Commissioner said Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has sought from the corporation the list of areas where the public land has been `encroached’.
During the recently held one-day Delhi Assembly session, Health Minister Satyendar Jain had blamed the municipal corporations for politicising the issue of mohalla clinics and stalling their construction work.