Ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi, AAP’s National Convenor and candidate for the New Delhi assembly constituency Arvind Kejriwal, on Sunday, proposed a scheme to provide affordable homes to sanitation workers on monthly installments.

Addressing a press conference, the former chief minister of Delhi revealed that he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the Centre to provide land to the Delhi government for the construction of these homes. Since the land in the national capital is under the Centre’s control as per the Constitutional framework, he said its cooperation is essential for the project.

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“I want to draw your attention to the issues faced by sanitation workers employed in NDMC and MCD areas. These workers, who are the backbone of our city’s cleanliness system, are required to vacate their government accommodations after retirement. With no means to buy homes or afford high rents in Delhi, they and their families face a precarious situation,” Kejriwal said.

He said he wants the Central government to allot land for the retired sanitation workers at concessional rates and the Delhi government, in turn, would construct houses on the land so that the workers could repay the cost in affordable installments and thereby become owners of the houses by their retirement.

The scheme, he said, would initially focus on sanitation workers and could be extended to benefit all government employees later. He urged the Centre to address this pressing issue to ensure better living conditions for the city’s essential workers.

Earlier on Friday, Kejriwal wrote a similar letter urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a 50 per cent concession for students in Delhi Metro fares.

He said since both the Centre and the Delhi government share ownership of the Delhi Metro, both should jointly bear the cost of the proposed fare concession.