Small Talk with the Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly

Shri. Ram Niwas Goel, an Indian politician who has been a member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly since 2015, a member of the Aam Aadmi Party who represents the Shahdara constituency of Delhi & Currently is a Speaker of Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi since 2015.

Mr. Goel was elected as Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly on 23-02-2015 and his term as MLA in the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi is his second term. He defeated Jitender Singh Shunty of Bhartiya Janata Party by a margin of 11,731 votes in the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections. In 1993, for the First Legislative Assembly of Delhi he contested the elections as a BJP candidate and was elected

Q.Sir, we have already seen you working for 24 years in the field of Lord Ram’s narrative, kavadsevaor other devotional camps, you are a true devotee in such case. Also when I entered the Assembly, I noticed the beautiful pictures of the revolutionaries, those revolutionaries whom people have forgotten, children these days don’t know much about them. What is the reason behind such gesture in The Delhi Legislative Assembly?

Ans. See, the reason is quite obvious, paying tribute or giving respect to our freedom fighters is everyone’s duty. Everyone must think, understand and know about the people whose sacrifices lead us to this freedom. In this tradition, from Gandhiji to all our former and existing ministers and our freedom fighters must be respected. If we don’t respect them then how the next generation is going to learn about the sacrifices they have done and how difficult it was to get freedom from the British Government. Delhi’s Legislative Assembly has Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Hari Rajguru’s picture at the entrance, these are those freedom fighters who were hanged by Britishers as they raised voice against them and demanded for freedom.

I believe such gesture changes the aura of the person who enters this Assembly and makes their mind pious.Also this Legislative Assembly has always been great for our freedom fighters. In 1912, British Government made this their capital and people like Gandhiji, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sardar Patel and many more have appeared in this Assembly, they have sat here.This very place was previously Lok Sabha which got shifted in 1926 to the place where Lok Sabha still remains. After 1926, the freedom fighters who were jailed in Red Fort where mostly brought here in this Legislative Assembly of Delhi and this very place was converted into a court and judgements were passed here.The prisoners were brought through a tunnel connecting Red Fort and Legislative Assembly. There is an execution chamber also in Delhi Legislative Assembly. Freedom fighters like Saheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Gandhiji, Ambedkarji, actually this legislative assembly is dedicated to such great people.So if we don’t putpictures of such boundless people then who else? Delhi’s Legislative assembly is the first in India to follow such gesture, you can find single picture of Bhagat Singh, and people talk about him, praise him and also swear in his name. But when it comes to give the accurate respect then it is our responsibility and I urge other Legislative Assemblies in India to follow this manner.

Q. My next question will be about the CCTV camera project and in our own constituency, Dilshad Garden, especially in Block B and Block R, CCTV cameras are already installed. What about other areas and how long is it going to take to cover Delhi with installed CCTV cameras?

Ans. I can tell about my area that we have covered 50 % of it. If I have covered 50% then I believe 50 % work is done in entire Delhi also.  My areas from Dilshad Colony,toSeemapuri, J&K, I pocket, R block, E pocket, B pocket are already covered with CCTV.I think it started last Sunday and it will take a month to finish one entire round, then we will cover the things left during first round and complete it in second round, CCTV camera was such a promise made for women’s safety, reducing the crime rate and lot of other things like theft, fight between neighbours. Fight regarding car parking even car safety. All this will be covered by CCTV camera. It will put balance in the society.

Q. I believe this step is going to end the crime in our area. Sir, you recently announced that Delhi Legislative Assembly is going to be“paperless”in future. I want to know if it is for saving paper and saving environment or there are more objectives behind this scheme.

Ans. Well, it has multiple objectives. Saving environment and saving paper is already one of the objectives but other than that the work in Delhi Legislative Assembly will get faster. MLAs can respond online while sitting in their houses. They can put their questions in the order they want and those who are in the assembly they will have laptops in front of them on which they will work by just pressing some buttons. The practice we have now is of big fat books that are heavy to carry and shown to the ministers and it’s a very lengthy and difficult task. But with this project everyone can see the files in their respective laptops on their respective seats. Printing of papers then binding them into a book, it takes lot of time but with this method, we will save lot of time and speed up the work and also we will contribute a little to save the environment.

Q. Moving on the next question, the road near Dilshad Garden metro station is difficult to cross by foot. People face lot of trouble to cross that road. Are you taking any measures to solve this problem? Will there be any foot overs?

Ans. We have already started working on it, no there will be no footovers cause there is a flyover already and foot over will go one more storey high and that high climbing is not possible for the people on daily basis, it will create another problem for them. We have already started underpass project in that area. Metro has already reduced some of its services from there so we will make an underpass that will be from both the sides and one more we will make that will start from Dilshad Garden, near Red Cross hospital so that then don’t have to cross G.T.Road by foot while risking their lives for accident or traffic jam or heat or pollution, in fact it will save their time. Underpass project is of 6 crore rupees and work has already started.

Q. Speaking of roads, most of them are not in a good condition, there are different set of roads for MCD and different for Delhi Government, so my question is that are you both working together in synchronization for the improvement of the roads?

Ans. The Roadswider than 60 feet are under Delhi government and less are under MCD.This must be very clear to all of us. Less than 60 feet road are built and maintained by MCD.  MLA’s job is to provide funds for it. Earlier MLA fund was 4 crore rupees but now government has increased it to 10 crore rupeesे nowadays MLA can sanction projects worth 10 crore rupees. Not only this, Mykhyamanti Punarnirman Sadak Yogjna has deposit of Thousand crore for such roads which are built already but have got damaged by time. So they can be repaired.

Q. There was another Yojna announced by CM called Mukhyamantri Kirayedar Bijli Meter Yojna. Tell us about it. Is it restricted only to Delhi or will it spread across NCR. What will happen to the owners and tenants? People have doubts about it.

Ans. No, there are no doubts. Doubts is about intensions only. Tenant is paying money and owner must use in in a productive way but instead they misuse it do enjoyment. Now situation is that Delhi Government has reduced the bill amount to 50 % upto consumption of 400 units and water bill is completely free. When owner is getting such benefits he mostly doesn’t want to transfer or share such privilege.Now the problem is that the people who don’t own a house in Delhi due to some reasons like economic situation, they are unable to avail such privileges. Here, owner doesn’t even have to give anything extra, he gets his rental.

Delhi Government for such situation is applying policies where facilities are availed by all the citizens residing in Delhi. Especiallyif we talk about the tenants, we have prepaid system where tenants must install prepaid meter so that there is no load on the owner, just recharge for simple amount of Rs 100 for example and consume it. In case they leave the house there is no pending bill left for the owner to pay. This shouldn’t be a problem for the owner and they must provide NOC so that tenants can avail this facility.

Q. This is quite a nice scheme for both owner and tenants to make it a trouble free staying for both. Similarly, Arvind Kejriwal also promised to bring change in schools. Things have changed a lot and there is improvement among the teachers and the students that are visible. Will there be more change in this field or is the job done?

Ans. See, job is never done. There is always something new coming by the end, new projects are part of development. We have initiated Mukhyamantri Bheem Yojna where a child of a poor family can get help for MBBS coaching by the government fund which will be 4-5 lakh for each student.This announcement is done by Shri Manish Shisodiya where 15,000 students will get funds for coaching out of which 75%  will be from government school and 25% private school. Not only the coaching will be funded by Delhi government but also Rupees 25,000 will be spent on the transportation of each student. So when we will move towards completion of this project, the standard of education will improve.

Already private school students are moving towards government, better quality teachers are employed, and teaching methods are improved. Now it’s time to look towards more opportunities where a student born to a poor family can study equally in the society. This will bring social justice where rich and poor both will be measured with the same scale. Those who have Rs 5 Lakhs in their pocket they spend it on their children who get coaching and pass MBBS exams, but those who don’t have money but are deserving candidates are always left behind due to lack of money. This is not social justice.

Q. You are right, deserving candidates most often are left behind due to lack of finance. After talking with you it feels like Delhi government is not only working on the existing issues but also it is looking into the depth of the society and trying hard to keep a balance in the society. Thank you so much for having us here and giving us time. I have observed how busy you are and how hard you are working for the people and society. It was a pleasure to have a conversation with you.

Ans. Thank you for coming here and interviewing me.