The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday expressed deep concern over the rising incidence of extortion and violence in Delhi with senior party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj blaming Lieutenant Governor (LG) S K Saxena for the development alleging that he failed to contain crime in the national capital.
Bharadwaj urged the LG to take decisive action to ensure the safety of the city’s residents and business owners.
Advertisement
Bharadwaj’s remarks came in the wake of the reports of two alarming incidents where miscreants opened fire at a businessman’s warehouse for his refusal to oblige to their extortion demand and a doctor was allegedly gunned down at a nursing home in the Kalindi Kunj area of South East Delhi during the intervening night of Wednesday-Thursday.
The Delhi minister described the situation as increasingly dangerous for the city’s business community and claimed that shopkeepers across the city are living in fear. “Extortion demands are being backed by threats of violence, and when business owners refuse to pay up, they face dangerous consequences,” Delhi minister added.
The AAP leader accused the LG of failure to address these critical issues. “The LG should be inspecting police stations and ensuring the safety of the city’s residents,” he added.
Taking a dig at the LG, Bharadwaj alleged he is wasting time on tasks that do not come under his jurisdiction, like inspecting drains and roads. “What the people of Delhi need right now is security, not symbolism,” Bharadwaj emphasized.
Citing the killing of a doctor in his own nursing home, the AAP leader said doctors are no longer safe even in their own workplaces. The incident has caused an outcry from the Doctors’ Association, further raising alarms about the deteriorating law and order situation in the city, the AAP leader added.
“This is not a one-off case. We are witnessing a pattern of fear and lawlessness spreading across Delhi. The authorities need to focus on providing security and ensure proper policing, and crack down on these criminal elements,” he added.
