'Delhi govt lied about date of rollout of Red Light On, Gaadi Off campaign'

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai claimed the file on the campaign was sent to Lt Governor V K Saxena on October 21

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai did not speak the truth about the date of the rollout of the ''Red Light On, Gaadi Off'' campaign, Lieutenant Governor office sources said on Friday, claiming that the AAP did so to coerce the L-G into taking a decision.

Setting the stage for a fresh confrontation with the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, the AAP government on Thursday had said it is postponing the launch of the campaign as the L-G's office is yet to approve it.

Addressing a press conference here, Rai had claimed that the file on the campaign was sent to Lt Governor V K Saxena on October 21.

The L-G has the time to write letters to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal every day but doesn't have the time to sign crucial files, he had said.

The L-G office sources said Saxena was out of office due to prior commitments on Thursday.

"AAP Minister Gopal Rai lied to the people of Delhi that the campaign of Red light on, Gadi off was to be launched on October 28. The file sent to L-G by CM Kejriwal clearly mentions the date of October 31 for the scheme to be rolled out," a source said.

The sources further claimed that the file was sent to the L-G secretariat on October 21, which was a Friday, after which the offices fully opened only on October 27 (Thursday), following the weekend, a gazetted holiday and a restricted holiday.

"The files sent to the L-G are not perfunctory in nature. They require proper consideration and application of mind," the source said.

The minister did a press conference on Thursday when the "L-G was out of office with prior commitments including dedication of waterfalls to the people of Delhi at Asola-Bhati and then at Rashtrapati Bhawan", he said.

"The AAP obviously did so to coerce the L-G into a decision," the source claimed.

The month-long ''Red Light On, Gaadi Off'' campaign aims to encourage drivers to turn off the ignition of their vehicles while waiting for the traffic signal to turn green.

The campaign has been successful in previous years, Rai had said. "It is very unfortunate. The file was sent to the L-G on October 21 but he has not approved it yet," he said.

The campaign to control pollution was successfully conducted in October 2020 and in 2021, he had said. The Delhi government had first launched the ''Red Light On, Gaadi Off'' campaign on October 16, 2020.