Before Bengaluru Trip, Arvind Kejriwal Looks Into Power, Water Crunch

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is attending a series of meetings before he takes off for Bengaluru for his annual, 10-day trip for naturopathy treatment. His first meetings were with the officials of power and water ministries, which come amid a huge supply crunch that was highlighted by the BJP during his unprecedented 9-day sit-in protest at the house of Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal.

Tweeting photographs from the meeting with official of the power department and discoms, Mr Kejiwal's Aam Aadmi Party said the Chief Minister has sought "everyday status report of all areas in Delhi with problems/action with the solution". The department, AAP said, has also been asked to implement the subsidy policy for tenants as soon as possible.

Similar announcements were made at the meeting with officials of the Delhi Jal Board.

He is also expected to attend a cabinet meeting before he leaves.

Mr Kejriwal, who suffers from diabetes, has not been keeping well since the sit-in protest. His deputy Manish Sisodia said his blood sugar levels had shot up and even insulin injections were not working on him. The journey to Bengaluru is meant to bring his sugar levels under control, officials at the Chief Minister's office had said.

Since taking over as the Chief Minister in 2015, Mr Kejriwal has been visiting the naturopathy centre once a year. He has undergone treatment for his chronic cough and diabetes-related ailments.

This year's visit, however, is likely to push back his meeting with IAS officers, whom he had given assurances of support and security that led to the resolution of the impasse in Delhi on Tuesday. The officers, who said they were skipping meetings where they were apprehensive about their security, tweeted that they were looking forward to the meeting with the Chief Minister. The Lieutenant Governor had asked the Chief Minister to hold the meeting urgently.

In an open letter the next day, the officials had asked for a meeting on their safety."We look forward to meeting you to discuss how to make our working environment safe and secure, not only in relation to physical assaults but also for verbal assaults, threats, intimidation and attack on dignity and respect of officers/officials including lady officers/officials," they wrote.

AAP had maintained that the officers had boycotted work since an alleged attack on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash in February during a late-night meeting at Mr Kejriwal's house. On Tuesday evening, Mr Kejriwal said IAS officers had agreed to attend meetings and called it a "victory".