Thursday, December 26, 2013

I spy with my little eyes, says Kejriwal.

Being the capital Delhi has the parliament, the central government, an assembly, a state government and 3 municipalities. It therefore has thousands of politicians, tens of thousands of civil servants and hundreds of thousands of ' business ' people who thrive on their close contacts with some or all of the above. Not surprising that it is also the corruption capital of India and probably among the tops in the world. The slogan for Delhi is " sab chalta hai ( everything goes ), it is part of the game ". If you protest that corruption is not a game but a cancer eating the core out of our nation you will be met with an uncomprehending stare and most probably a muttered " sala pagal hai ( stupid fellow is mad ) ". Not surprising that the promise of a clean government by the incoming Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal has set the rats running in different directions. He has promised to audit the power companies. Delhi has been divided into 3 zones and one company has been given monopoly license to supply electricity in each zone. Electricity rates in Gujarat are the same as in Delhi but bills are at least one third less in Gujarat than in Delhi. Either there are additional taxes here or the meters are faulty. He has promised to supply 700 liters of water free to every household. Delhi is extremely hot in summer and water supply is deliberately interrupted to force people to buy water from private tankers at Rs 1 per liter which means that a 1000 liter tank costs Rs 1000 to fill. The water mafia was raking in tens of billions of rupees and there can be no doubt that money was passing up the chain right to the top. There was no supply of water today in south Delhi probably because of sabotage, no doubt as a warning to Kejriwal. The central government has suddenly increased the price of CNG by Rs 4.50 per kg which is a huge rise of 10%. In an effort to reduce pollution the previous Congress government forced public transport to convert to CNG so bus, auto and tax fares will all have to rise substantially which will be blamed on the new government. An undercover operation by the news channel, Headlines Today showed how civil servants are frantically shredding files to hide their loot and large numbers have applied to be transferred out of Delhi. Why work if you cannot loot? Total panic in response to a warning. What happens if he really goes after the scoundrels?

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