The Home Ministry remained silent, the LG remained silent, and the BJP remained silent for the entire past year, party spokesman Saurabh Bhardwaj says
NEW DELHI — The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has accused the BJP-led Delhi government of destroying official records to hide corruption in a multi-crore drain desilting scam.
At a press conference on Monday, the party’s official spokesman, Saurabh Bhardwaj, said that for the past several days, whenever it has rained in Delhi, the city’s streets have been completely submerged. “We have even seen waterlogging in Connaught Place. Yesterday, on the day of rakhi, sisters were stuck for three to four hours on the roads, waiting to tie rakhis. Everyone saw this. Seven people died in one incident when a wall collapsed due to waterlogging. It was raining, there was waterlogging, and the wall fell because of it. Among those who died were two children, two women, and three men.”
“In another heart-wrenching case, a two-and-a-half-year-old child stepped out of his home. Two-and-a-half hours later, when his sisters went searching for him to tie a rakhi, CCTV footage showed that their little brother had drowned in an open sewer right outside his house. That child never got to have a rakhi tied to him,” Bhardwaj said.
The former Delhi Urban Development Minister noted, “I also complained to the Union Home Ministry that despite repeated requests, third-party audit of desilting was not conducted. When a report was demanded, why was it not provided to the minister? What is being hidden? On this, the Home Ministry remained silent, the LG remained silent, and the BJP remained silent for the entire past year.”
Bhardwaj stated, “This year, I wrote a letter to (Chief Minister) Rekha Gupta stating that last year there was a high court order requiring a third-party audit of desilting works. I asked her to inform me if the audit had been conducted. Rekha Gupta did not reply to the letter. Finally, I filed an RTI in my own name regarding the directions I gave to the Chief Secretary on June 13, 2024, to conduct a third-party audit of desilting as per the high court order.”
“An Urban Development Minister had written to the Chief Secretary multiple times seeking the report and status of desilting. When I did not receive a response from the Chief Secretary, I wrote a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, complaining about this matter, but even then no action was taken,” he noted.
The AAP leader said, “In my RTI application, dated July 21, 2025, I asked for details of the action taken by the Chief Secretary of Delhi on the complaint dated 13.06.2024 regarding the deliberate failure to conduct a third-party audit of desilting works in Delhi.”
“Additionally, I sought a certified copy of the complete file notings, internal correspondence, remarks, and all documents related to the handling, movement, and processing of the complaint. Give the file noting of what directions the Chief Secretary gave on this matter. If the third-party audit was done, what came out of it? Give the complete details so that corruption can be exposed,” he added.
“This RTI reply, dated July 29, 2025, came from the Chief Secretary’s office. The reply states: ‘The undersigned had received the RTI application in this office on 28-7-2025. In this regard, it is to inform you that, as per letter monitoring record available at dlsr@nic.in, the reference letter diary number 5224/1752 was not received in the Chief Secretary’s office.’ This means that now the Delhi Government is making official documents disappear, destroying them,” Bhardwaj asserted.
He pointed out, “This is the letter that I did not write secretly to the Chief Secretary. When this letter was written, I held a press conference and informed the press that a letter had been written to the Chief Secretary asking about the third-party audit. The very next day, on June 14, I wrote to the Union Home Ministry of the Government of India. All these letters are available on social media and with journalists.”
Bhardwaj said an RTI reply from the Chief Secretary’s office claimed it never received his formal complaint about the failure to conduct a third-party audit of desilting works, as ordered by the Delhi High Court. He said this was false, as copies of his letter were already with the media and posted on social media.
Bhardwaj linked the alleged scam to recent flooding in Delhi during rains, which has caused severe waterlogging and multiple deaths.
The AAP leader alleged that despite repeated letters to former Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, the LG, and the Union Home Ministry, no independent audit was carried out. He claimed the government is now pretending the letters never existed to protect those involved.
Bharadwaj said he will release the RTI documents publicly and demanded Chief Minister Rekha Gupta to explain “what mess is going on” in the Delhi Government.
