Delhi assembly panel visits Asha Kiran shelter home in Rohini
The petition committee, comprising MLAs Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, Kuldeep Kumar and others, said it interacted with the inmates and gathered the details
The Delhi assembly’s petition committee visited the Asha Kiran shelter home for the intellectually challenged on Saturday and found that the inmates were not being provided adequate food, clean water or proper in-house healthcare, according to people aware of the matter.
The visit followed a series of developments this week, including the probes ordered by the Delhi government and lieutenant governor, to look into the allegations of neglect and mismanagement at the facility after 14 inmates died at the facility in July this year. The matter came to light after the social welfare secretary submitted a report regarding the matter.
The petition committee, comprising MLAs Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, Kuldeep Kumar and others, said it interacted with the inmates and gathered the details. “We talked to the inmates, and staff, and made several videos of the mismanagement in the shelter homes. All the details will be contained in the report,” said Kuldeep Kumar.
The petition committee of the Delhi assembly can conduct an inquiry into matters of public interest on a petition submitted to the speaker or presented in the Delhi assembly. The committee can summon officials and people concerned during its proceedings. It submits the final report to the speaker or presents it in the Delhi assembly. The assembly can discuss the report and recommend action against those it finds guilty to the government.
Meanwhile, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the current administrator of Asha Kiran, Rahul Aggarwal, a 2012 batch DANICS officer, was arrested for alleged bribery by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2016. Bharadwaj said the officer has not been suspended despite the many deaths at the shelter home.
“The LG and the central government considered him competent that they appointed him the administrator of Asha Kiran. After the arrest, Aggarwal was suspended for five years. Later he was appointed as administrator. The power of transfer and posting was snatched from us (the Aam Aadmi Party government) by the central government. I want to know on what basis the LG and the central government appointed him the administrator?” said Bharadwaj.
HT reached out to both Aggarwal and social secretary Vinod P Kavle but neither responded to requests for comments.
Bharadwaj added: “Officially, we have not been provided details of the development. We came to know through the media that no RO was installed in the shelter, and adequate food was not provided. When all the details have come out, why is the LG not suspending the administrator and the secretary of the social welfare department?”
On Friday, LG VK Saxena directed the chief secretary to submit a white paper detailing the state of all shelter homes run by the Delhi government.
Saxena’s office did not respond to the allegations made by Bharadwaj on Saturday.