My biggest challenge is to draft policies for an unplanned city, says Delhi CM Rekha Gupta

The Hindu

20-06-2025

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was the inaugural guest at the new series of thoughtful conversations, The Hindu 'Mind', launched and curated by The Hindu. She speaks to Nistula Hebbar on a host of issues facing the national capital and her plans to address them. Edited excerpts:
You completed 100 days as CM on May 30. What has been the biggest challenge you faced in this period?
Actually, I could not even imagine that the arrangements for the whole of Delhi were so challenging. Staying outside the system, I saw that Delhi was running. But when I stood inside the system, I saw that Delhi was running like a vehicle without wheels, at the mercy of fate with no holistic planning for Delhi and its infrastructure, its needs.
I soon realised that the expectations of the people of Delhi, which is the capital of the country, had shrunk to such an extent that a Delhiite today does not want to ask anything big from you. His wishes have been limited to such an extent that all he is asking you is to just get the drain in front of his house fixed. It is as if Delhiites have lost all scope of thinking bigger than that in the last 20-25 years. So that is the challenge that I see – a condition where you have to start from almost zero, that you don't have any count of the population of an unplanned city which is the capital of the country. There is no draft of what you want to do and how will you do it. There is no vision for this. That continues to be the biggest challenge.
Nowadays we have seen a lot that there is a lot of bitterness and acrimony in the political culture. Since you took over, have you had any interaction with the two former CMs, Arvind Kejriwal and Atishi?
I have not had any interaction with Arvind Kejriwal because I think that the day the results came, he immediately picked up his bag and left for Punjab.
Punjab is also where you went for campaigning for the Ludhiana bypoll.
I had gone to look for him. I thought I should find him.
Did you meet him there?
I did not meet him but I did convey via my meetings there that the people of Delhi are calling you [Kejriwal]. Till yesterday you were the son of Delhi and now suddenly you have become the son of Punjab. I conveyed to the people of Punjab the wounds that he has given to Delhi. But I get to meet Atishiji during the Assembly session. I remember that in the first session, those people [Aam Aadmi Party MLAs] made big noise and came with placards that you people [the government] have removed the photographs Bhagat Singhji and Babasaheb Ambedkar from office of the CM. I asked my security to let Atishiji and other AAP MLAs enter my office. I made them sit and gave them tea and said, look bhai, you have the photographs here, I am also there, the room is also the same. Why are you making this noise? I understand that one should continue efforts to talk to the Opposition.
The two big campaign issues for the BJP in the Delhi poll were the alleged excise scam and the 'Sheesh Mahal' issue. What is happening there?
The Arvind Kejriwal government's excise policy, in which he gave free liquor with one purchase, was unprecedented. And similarly, he built a Sheesh Mahal for himself.
The negative reaction in terms of poll results to the Sheesh Mahal was also because it was done by someone who used to sit in Ramlila Maidan and say that I don't want anything, no car, no bungalow, not even any post, and later went on to acquire everything.
Both these subjects touch the public and we want to take decisions after a lot of thought. We want to bring a very transparent and people-friendly excise policy and for this we have done a lot of homework to find out comparative policies in other States, a policy in which the standards of society, revenue parameters should be met with complete transparency. We have engaged a team of our officers to go into it, and we will be able to bring a good, transparent and economically viable excise policy for Delhi very soon.
As for the Sheesh Mahal, it has become like a white elephant for the government. But I definitely assure the people of Delhi that every penny of taxpayers' money will be fully utilised. Some people feel that it should be made a State guest house, others feel that it should be sold, still others feel it should be a museum. Some people have also suggested that I should stay in it.
Will you?
No, I had made it clear on the first day itself that I don't want to be in it. We will bring a proposal that it should be useful for the public and the government should generate revenue from it.
We speak about developed Delhi but recently we have seen incidents like the fire in a residential complex in Dwarka where to save their lives, some people jumped from the ninth floor because the Fire Department people took a lot of time in arriving.
We are in the process of addressing this. We have made a provision in our budget for upgrading of facilities for disaster management, on how to deal with floods, earthquakes, the possibilities of these disasters happening. We started dealing with all these things in just 100 days and have started planning for it. In 2023, the then government in Delhi was totally unprepared for the kind of floods that happened. The barricades of the [Yamuna] barrage could not be opened since they had remained closed for years, and the water could not flow out.
Today we know that the rains are about to start, so before that we have completed the meetings on disaster management, flood management and everything else, completed the preparations, de-silting of drains in which in just four months we have removed 20 lakh metric tons of silt.
The monsoon is almost upon us. Last year, the city saw massive urban waterlogging. What is your plan to deal with it?
Every year, in June, the same photo of a bus stuck under a waterlogged Minto Bridge is published. The Congress government got 15 years, AAP got 11 years… they could not solve the problem created every year at one place. But today I can assure you that Minto Bridge will not be flooded. Not only Minto Bridge, we have identified all the waterlogging points in Delhi. For each of these points we have appointed a nodal officer to suggest solutions and who will be held responsible for any waterlogging there, on the premise that only through accountability and resources can you solve an intractable issue.
Today I invite Kejriwalji to come… you ruled for 11 years, I am standing on the record of 100 days. Debate with me. What should have happened in Delhi and what did you do?
Looking at your campaign for the Ludhiana bypoll, will you be going to Punjab during the Assembly election in 2027?
Yes, 100%. Delhi has been pushed back 50 years by the AAP government in 11 years. It is my social responsibility that no other State of the country falls into the trap of such deceptive people.
Lately, the issue of fee hikes by private schools has hit the headlines. You have brought the Delhi school education ordinance. Why not debate it in the Assembly first?
Private schools are increasing their fees abnormally every year, but even today, private schools in Delhi are governed by the Delhi School Education Act, 1973 and nowhere in that Act is anything written about what schools should do to increase fees. There is just a line that says that you should increase your fees and intimate the Directorate of Education. The government used to go to court and used to fail because there was no law. For the first time after coming to power, we made a framework for it so that the schools can be governed.
As for the ordinance route, the problem was that as soon as our government was formed, school admissions had started with some schools increasing fees. We had to react to the fact that children and parents were being harassed. We presented our complete report in court. Even the honourable court scolded the schools that you cannot do this and in the meantime, because no Assembly [session] was not on and we wanted to give immediate relief, we have brought it as an ordinance. An ordinance can survive for six months and in between you will have a session where the House will clear it.
What ways beyond legislation are there to address these issues?
People have made education a business. Some good people should come who accept it as a social service and deal with it in that manner. There is, however, another way which I understand.
We have to make our government schools so good that people prefer sending their children there rather than face hassles in a private school. Leave aside other things. Tell me which leader's children study in a government school? They do not study because they know that we have not given the structure to the schools where their own children can study. So it is the responsibility of the government to make government schools better so that private schools will automatically come down.
Interestingly, when we talk education at the university level and even at the postgraduation level, where do people want to go? They want to go to a government institution. We want that same preference for school education.
The state of the Yamuna river has become a chronic issue for the city. What are your plans with regard to this forever problem?
Look, this is the misfortune of the city. What we are now calling a problem was once the lifeline of Delhi, its claim to beauty. Slowly, when people started coming to Delhi in a non-planned manner, and governments never worried about what kind of infrastructure should be there. People kept settling down and sewers, drains, gutters kept falling directly into Yamunaji. And as this pile-up continued for years, the condition of Yamunaji became like that of a drain. There was much talk by previous governments that we will clean the Yamuna, but without addressing the things that have made the river dirty.
Today, about 200 drains of Delhi fall into the Yamuna. Every drain in the entire city has its own shape and at some places, the drain is bigger than the river. The one which is called Sahibi river is Najafgarh drain, which falls completely into the Yamuna.
We have made a detailed plan. For the first time, the government is seriously surveying through drones drains that are falling into the Yamuna and the amount of silt in it. For the first time, we have removed 20 lakh metric tons of silt from big drains through machines. The procedure and plan for tapping each drain is being followed. Decentralised sewage treatment plants (STPs) should be built on all the drains. We have allocated funds for the revival of existing STPs. Cleaning the Yamuna is not a one-day job, it will take around four-five years till all these decentralised STP plants are started.
All the 1,750 unauthorised colonies in Delhi will have to have sewers that will have to be tapped so that not even a single drop of dirty water goes into Yamunaji. The e-flow of Yamuna will have to be increased, natural water will have to be created in it.
A major issue with regard to Delhi is air pollution, which becomes particularly bad in what was once the most beautiful season in the city – autumn – and winter because of stubble burning. What are your plans to tackle this?
First we need to recall what Kejriwal sahab used to say about fixing air pollution. He used to speak of a medicine that would get rid of stubble and that would fix the air in Delhi. Where is that medicine? Next, he used to speak of odd-even [traffic rule], which only made people buy an extra car, one with an odd number, another with even. To say all this, they spent ₹8 crore on advertisement. Then we came to know that a smog tower was installed somewhere. Only one was installed in 11 years, cost ₹25 lakh and malfunctioned within 6 months.
To fix pollution, we need both intentions and policies. So, you will need the support of other governments to solve pollution – both Punjab and Haryana and the multiple agencies within NCR.
We have made a plan to convert the public transport in Delhi to only electric vehicles and till now we have put 700 electric buses on the roads. We are planning to take the public transport completely on non-emission mode.
We are trying to motivate the public to gradually completely shift from CNG to electric. As far as dust pollution is concerned, not just for the winter months but all year round, we installed 1,000 water sprinklers all over the city, since even today, if your AQI (Air Quality Index) gets higher, GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) is imposed by the court. So these sprinklers should run for 12 months and smog guns should be installed on all high-rise buildings.
But how will you deal with this specific issue of stubble? Because that is outside the State, right?
Haryana has just set up a plant where they buy stubble from farmers and after processing it, put it to some other use. We must attempt to set up more such plants in the same way, in Haryana, Punjab, U.P., which are on our NCR boundaries, and take their help. As far as I told you about vehicles in Delhi, we will have to certify even those vehicles which come from outside Delhi. The work we are doing is for the benefit of the public but it will take time. You can judge the performance in a time-bound manner.
Why is it that Noida, Gurugram, the places around NCR are attracting business, housing, but not Delhi?
We have had governments in Delhi which said that they we will turn Delhi into London, Paris. My point is to let Delhi remain Delhi only. Previous governments have created such a difficult situation in Delhi that no one can work here. Firstly, instead of maintaining talking terms with the multiple agencies running Delhi, you start abusing them, that the L-G did this, or the PM did that, etc. So which agency will stay here? Who will be able to work?
Today the rate of electricity in Delhi is higher than in the whole country. Because you have made one segment completely free, while the industrial sector has to pay as much as ₹18 per unit of electricity. So you will have to do something to flatten it. If people want to come here and work, then we will have to bring a new industrial policy, a new warehousing policy. We have planned a traders' welfare board so that someone can also listen to the voice of the traders. Ease of doing business, single-window system, all this will have to be done to make Delhi trader-friendly, industry-friendly.
One of the most important factors for this is a master plan, which will come very soon with proposals for land reforms. We are developing things related to infrastructure for our industrial areas. Currently, for different taxes, licences, people have to go to different agencies. All these issues are on the table. This is actually a very good time for Delhi for all this with the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi), Delhi government and Central government all being headed by the same party, a triple-engine government.
Your term has just begun, but what do you wish to see as your legacy?
My only goal is that when the public sees me, they should honestly feel that yes, our Chief Minister is here, working for us, doing everything she can for the welfare of the people.