AAP says PWD Secretary stalling developmental works, he hits back

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday accused Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) Secretary Ashwani Kumar of corruption and stalling development works, but he denied the allegations and termed the corruption charge a "cock-and-bull story".

AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha told the media here that the senior officer was stalling many works in Delhi to favour certain companies.

"To make Delhi safe for women, the Arvind Kejriwal government plans to install closed-circuit television across the city, but the Secretary has stalled this project. We have information that it is being done to benefit two big companies," Jha said.

Responding to the allegations, Kumar told IANS: "The files on installing CCTVs are pending with the PWD Minister (Satyendar Jain) for the past 15 days. I cleared the files within a day or two of receiving the same."

The Secretary called the corruption charge a "cock-and-bull story" and asked: "If a donkey kicks you, will you kick him back?"

It is not the first time that the ruling AAP has made allegations against Ashwani Kumar.

In June, the PWD Secretary had hit back after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Chief Secretary M.M. Kutty to demand action against him for not overseeing desilting of drains, saying that "negativity and squabbling attitude" did not work in such a challenging task.

Delhi assembly's Petition Committee, headed by AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, had in June demanded in the house for a probe into alleged irregularities in developmental works undertaken by the PWD and various civic bodies.

The committee also recommended that Ashwani Kumar, who also holds additional charge of Secretary (Vigilance), be "kept aside" from both the posts until the probe was completed.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)