Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday asserted that the poll promise of Rs 2,500 monthly financial dole for poor women in the national Capital would be launched soon and mocked the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab for either not starting such a scheme despite promises or doing so without adequate funds.
In a podcast-style interview with actor Anupam Kher to mark the Delhi government’s 100 days in office, CM Gupta said, “We have held six meetings on forming the policy on the matter, and I have allocated Rs 5,100 crore in the Budget for the Mahila Samridhi Yojana.”
She said her government does not want to falter like the Himachal Pradesh government which announced a financial scheme with enthusiasm but ran out of funds to give to women.CM Gupta also hit out at the previous Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi which promised, just before Lok Sabha elections, to give Rs 1,000 to Delhi women but failed to do so.
“The AAP government in Punjab has also failed to start the financial assistance scheme despite announcements,” she said.Admitting that women of Delhi have huge expectations from the BJP government, Chief Minister Gupta assured a roll out of the Mahila Samridhi Yojana scheme soon, for eligible women. “We want the scheme to be a long-term beneficial scheme without disruptions,” she said.
Talking about what went across the minds of BJP workers and leaders during the past 10 years, when the AAP was in power, she said they stayed strong and as public representatives continued to work with the people.
"When we saw that the people of Delhi were being wronged, when corruption was being exposed every day, when liquor shops were opening in every street we were in the midst of that struggle... Overall, in these 10 years, Delhi fell behind, but wherever we could make things right, we stayed among the people and worked for them..." she said.
She said winning the trust of people in 100 days was a challenge as many people were hurt after the promised anti-corruption campaign, launched from Ramlila Maidan, went astray. “People who were looking for honest governance were hurt.
They again lost faith in politicians. But my Cabinet members and I have tried to work while remaining present among the people and this is helping to heal the people of Delhi who have suffered for 27 years,” claimed CM Gupta, adding the Yamuna River and the city suffered due to neglect of previous governments.