Rohingya row: ‘Kejriwal govt wrote letters to settle infiltrators in the city,’ claims Delhi BJP

PTI, Aug 18, 2022, 12:59 PM IST

Continuing the row over the accommodation of Rohingyas in the national capital, the Delhi BJP on Thursday trained guns at the Kejriwal government claiming its officials wrote letter after letter requesting that the ”infiltrators” be provided EWS flats.

The Kejriwal government has not provided even proper electricity connection to the Pakistani Hindu refugees living in a camp here, but it ensured proper accommodation, food, and all other facilities for Rohingyas, alleged Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta. ”There were numerous communications from the home department of Delhi government and its district magistrate(southeast) to FRRO, NDMC, and the DCP concerned for providing EWS flats to Rohingyas,” Gupta claimed.

”Kejriwal government must identify illegal infiltrators living in the city instead it is busy protecting them. Chief Minister Kejriwal is concerned about infiltrators, not refugees,” he said. The central government and Delhi government agencies were working on the option to shift Rohingya families living in a temporary settlement in south Delhi’s Madanpur Khadar after a fire there in June last year, official documents show. The 1,200 Rohingyas were proposed to be housed in 240 EWS flats in Bakkarwala constructed by Delhi government agency DUSIB, but the move did not happen due to a pending security audit by the Delhi Police, documents showed. The AAP has alleged that the BJP-ruled central government had plans to provide permanent housing to Rohingyas in Delhi. Union Minister Hardeep Puri on Wednesday in a tweet lauded the proposed shifting of the Rohingyas in the outer Delhi area, saying the move will silence a lot of discreditors of the central government.

The Union home ministry almost immediately issued a statement saying no such plan was afoot, and in effect, discredited Puri’s statement.

After the MHA’s statement on Wednesday, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the central government made a U-turn on the issue and tried to blame it on the Delhi government after the hue and cry that Puri’s tweet engendered.

The Centre had specifically instructed officers of the Delhi government and Delhi Police to keep the Chief Minister and ministers in the dark and settle Rohingyas in Delhi behind their back, he went on to allege.