File Photo: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia today called on Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and sought the Centre's assistance in acquiring land for construction of new schools, colleges, hospitals, bus depots in the national capital.
According to Delhi government, it was not able to start various projects in the capital due to non-availability of land.
"Arvind Kejriwal and I today met Naidu ji and asked him to give land to the Delhi government for construction of new schools and colleges," Mr Sisodia told reporters after the meeting.
"How we will be able to do other work if we spend Rs 8-10 crore just for purchasing land? As such the Delhi government has asked the Union Minister to give it land," he said.
A senior government official said that in the meeting, Mr Kejriwal and his deputy sought land for taking up various projects pertaining to education, health, transport and social welfare.
In the run up to Delhi Assembly elections, AAP had promised to construct 20 colleges and 500 schools in different parts of the city.
"We want to construct more new colleges, schools, hospitals, bus depots in the capital, but we don't have land. DDA is the only agency which can provide us land for taking up these projects. In today's meeting with Naidu, CM and Deputy CM demanded land for such projects," the official said, adding that the Union Minister said that he would consider the city government's demand.
Government has plans to procure 10,000 new buses, but officials said that they don't have land to construct bus depots.
Before the Assembly poll, apart from new schools and colleges, the Aam Aadmi Party had promised to create 900 new primary health centers (PHCs) and 30,000 more beds in Delhi hospitals, out of which 4,000 would be in maternity wards.