Arvind Kejriwal asks for 10 days to put grievance redressal system in place

NEW DELHI: After months of building expectations of the electorate, Delhi’s new Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was, for the first time, faced with the burden of fulfilling his promises as hordes of people reached his residence in Ghaziabad on Sunday morning to discuss and demand speedy resolution of their problems.

The sight of an unruly crowd at near his residence forced Kejriwal to appeal to his visitors and the people of Delhi to give him ten days to formulate a system to address grievances of the people. “I don’t want to give you false assurances. I will take your applications only when we put a system in place...” he said addressing a gathering which included Delhi Transport Corporation employees and people from the Valmiki community. “We have formed the government but now a lot needs to be done. We can’t do it alone, we all need to work together.”

The crowd mainly included contractual employees who had come to put forward their demand to end the contract system in these bodies, a promise made by the AAP in its manifesto. They also wanted that those working for several years should be made permanent.

This was just a day after he took oath as the Capital’s new CM on Saturday, when he clocked in six hours of work holding meetings with top officials and announced his first executive decision to strip all ministers and bureaucrats of personal security and beacon cars.

Kejriwal also reshuffled top bureaucrats with whom he is expected to work to implement each of the 18 promises made in his manifesto including 50% reduction in power tariff and free water supply of up to 700 litres for per day for each family. The main transfer ordered by Kejriwal was that of Delhi Jal Board CEO Debashree Mukherjee, who was shifted to Delhi Transport Corporation. Also, Power Secretary RK Verma was shunted to Education department and Finance Secretary MM to Social Welfare Department.

Meanwhile on Sunday, to help him with the daunting task of fulfilling his populist promises Kejriwal’s father, Govind Ram Kejriwal, sought divine help as he along with local residents organised a ‘Hawan’ at a temple in Ghaziabad.

Over Rs 20 lakh donations for AAP on day 1

AAP supporters celebrated Arvind Kejriwal’s swearing-in as the Capital’s new chief minister in a unique way. They donated Rs 20 lakh in just one day as against the party’s daily average donation of about Rs 10 lakh. Overwhelmed by the supported, AAP also tweeted a thank you message on Sunday morning. The party has collected over Rs 2 crore since the Delhi election results were announced.