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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the 'Doorstep Delivery of Ration' scheme in the national capital. This comes a day after the Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had "rejected" the file for implementing the scheme in Delhi.
"I request you (PM Modi) with folded hands on behalf of Delhi's 70 lakh poor people, please don't stop this scheme (Doorstep Delivery of Ration). There should not be any politics over this scheme as it is in the interest of poor people, and it is meant for the benefit of the entire nation," said Kejriwal.
He said that the Delhi LG rejected the scheme by saying that the Central Government's approval was not taken regarding the scheme. "Just two days before 'Doorstep Delivery of Ration' scheme's implementation in Delhi, the Central Government stopped it. They claim we didn't take approval, but we took the approval five times. Legally, we don't need Centre's approval to implement the scheme, but we did out of courtesy," said Kejriwal.
Doorstep delivery of ration would have been beneficial for the poor who fear going to ration shops due to Coronavirus or stopping the spread of the virus to the children in the third wave. But, if there can be home delivery of food items like Pizzas, mobile phones, and clothes, why not ration, added Kejriwal.
Kejriwal also said that he was not looking to implement the doorstep delivery of ration scheme for his own credit. "I do not want any credit for this (scheme). I will tell the world that it (the doorstep delivery of ration) was Modi's idea. This is not the time to fight. How can the country run if you (Centre) are fighting with the government in West Bengal, in Lakshadweep, people of Delhi and farmers", Kejriwal asked.
Meanwhile, due to a further dip in the daily Covid-19 case count, the national capital Delhi will go in for further relaxations from Monday.
While malls and markets will be opened on an odd-even basis, metro services will run with 50 per cent capacity. This is the second straight week when Delhi will go in for relaxations to its lockdown initially imposed on April 19 after the national capital saw a considerable spurt in daily Covid-19 cases in the second wave of the pandemic.
New Covid cases
The national capital has recorded 381 new infections in the last 24 hours to Sunday, the Delhi State Health Bulletin showed. This was the lowest daily Covid19 new infections count since March 15.
The fatalities for Sunday stood at 34, the lowest in the last two months. However, this has led to a total death toll --since the beginning of the pandemic the previous year-- rising up to 24,591.
On Saturday, Delhi had recorded 414 new infections and 60 fatalities. On Friday, Delhi had registered 523 new cases and 50 deaths.
On Sunday, the daily test positivity rate reduced to 0.50 per cent from 0.53 per cent on Saturday and 0.68 per cent on Friday.
This is the seventh straight day when the daily test positivity rate has remained below 1 per cent.
While the number of tests conducted 24 hours to Sunday stood at 76,857, the number of beneficiaries vaccinated in the last 24 hours stood at 58,091.
The active Covid-19 cases in Delhi decreased to 5,889 on Sunday from 6,731 on Saturday and 8,060 on the previous day, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.72 per cent.
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