Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday wrote to Lt Governor VK Saxena, recommending suspension and registration of FIRs against officers who allegedly stopped funds for Mohalla Clinics ahead of the civic polls.
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In his letter, Sisodia also accused Saxena of threatening the officers to take these actions -- a step that could further intensify the power tussle between the Delhi government and the Lt Governor.?
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Sisodia requested Saxena to identify the guilty officers and immediately suspend them.
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"Register an FIR against them and arrest them. Otherwise, it will be proved that you have misused the powers of the services department for electoral gains.
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"It does not behove a person sitting on a constitutional post like Lt Governor to hatch such a conspiracy against the elected government for political gains. And if some officials have conspired at their level, then definitely you should take strict action against them and give a message that you believe in the constitution and do not tolerate any such action," the senior AAP leader said in the letter.?
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The minister also alleged "a conspiracy was hatched to stall the entire system of Mohalla Clinics" just before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections.?
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"Some officers posted in the Delhi government deliberately moved the files around in such a way that just two months before the MCD elections -- in October and November, the doctors of the Mohalla Clinics were not paid their salaries," he said.
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Sisodia, who also holds the Health department portfolio, claimed that doctors were not paid their salaries despite coming to the clinics while necessary tests for the treatment of people could not be done.?
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"Not only this but the electricity bills of Mohalla Clinics were also stopped and the rents of Mohalla Clinics, which are running in rented buildings, were also not deposited.?
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"All this was done so that the public gets upset and angry with our government, and the doctors get upset due to non-payment of salary. So that this mess angers the public," he added.
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Sisodia alleged that the officials of the Health and Finance departments kept moving the files from "here to there" by making one excuse or the other.?
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"...two months before the (civic) election, the files were released without disbursements. When I talked to the officials about this, officially they kept on giving some technical reasons but in a subdued tone they also kept on saying that on behalf of the LG, there were strict instructions to not make payments before the elections or else they would be suspended.?
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"Since you have the Services department, all the officers are afraid of you," the letter read.
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The Delhi government, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has levelled several accusations of interfering in its functioning against Saxena.
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"Strict action should be taken against those who stopped work and those who issued instructions to do so in Delhi's Mohalla Clinics ahead of the MCD polls. This is treason.
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"The misuse of the 'Services' (department) is being done to threaten officers and get anti-people work done," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.