Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena said the city has worked very hard to host the G20 Summit
The credit for beautifying the national capital for the G20 Summit "majorly" goes to the Centre, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena told NDTV's Senior Editor Megha Prasad in an interview today.
The city has been decked up and security has been tightened to receive world leaders when they arrive to attend the G20 Summit on September 9 and 10.
"See, my job is to do something good on the ground. If someone is taking credit, that means I am doing a good job," he said. "Mostly, it's (credit) the central government," he said, adding they beautified the city at a very less cost, which proves that a low-cost but high-impact beautification drive is achievable.
My Saxena's comment comes amid claims by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of having contributed a lot in cleaning up and beautifying the city to make it presentable for the G20 Summit.
On why it needed a major international summit to clean up Delhi, instead of keeping it neat and tidy for the city's residents on regular days, the Lieutenant Governor told NDTV he "fully agrees" that the people of Delhi deserve "such an atmosphere throughout the year, throughout their lives".
"It is very unfortunate that during the last nine years, nothing has been done, which is why we are facing this challenge. Anyway, past is past. As I said earlier, my duty is to improve the condition of Delhi without any interference from any quarter," said the Lieutenant Governor, whose ties with the Kejriwal government has been quite rough for most of the time.
Mr Saxena's comments alluded to the completion of nine years of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also during which Mr Kejriwal has been the Chief Minister of Delhi, often clashing with the centre on grey areas in administrative matters as Delhi is a Union Territory.
The Lieutenant Governor said only a small portion of Delhi will be shut during the G20 Summit, especially New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) areas where most of the delegate movements will happen.
He denied reports that many parts of Delhi which would not likely be seen by visiting leaders have not been beautified. He said areas outside the NDMC's jurisdiction have been cleaned up too.