Will work as city's local guardian, says newly appointed L-G Saxena
New Delhi: After being sworn in as the 22nd Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena declared that he is going to work as a local guardian to the city working more on the road with locals and the public. He said, "You will see me less in the office." Saxena also cleared his intent of working towards reducing the pollution levels of Delhi along with the Centre, Delhi government and local citizens.
Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Vipin Sanghi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 64-year-old Saxena in the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Cabinet Ministers of Delhi government and bureaucrats of the state and the union government. MPs of Delhi and some Union Ministers were also present at the event.
Kejriwal said his government would work together with the new L-G as it had done with his predecessor Anil Baijal.
"I assure to extend him full cooperation of the government. We will do a lot of good work together with Saxena Saheb as we did with Anil Baijal ji," the chief minister told reporters.
The newly appointed L-G requested the citizens to forget the ills of the riots that broke in the city in recent times and has appealed to the people of Delhi to stay together. He said, "My dream is to develop Delhi as the city of joy."
On the occasion, AAP MLA Somnath Bharti said that the role of the L-G in a city like Delhi is an important one. He added that under the leadership of CM Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi government has always tried to maintain healthy coordination with the L-G in order to bring changes in the lives of the citizens of Delhi. He said, "I have got a lot of positivity from the event today and a lot of optimistic things are going to happen in the future."
Delhi MP and Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture, Meenakshi Lekhi predicted the future of governance in Delhi to be a stormy one. She said, "I see no regulations which are working and someone needs to get the work done." She complimented the new L-G as a hard working man and expects him to
resolve all the problems of 'Delhiwalas'.
Interestingly BJP MP and former union health minister Harsh Vardhan walked out of the ceremony even before it began as he was upset with the seating arrangements.
The Chandni Chowk MP said in a tweet that he was asked by an officer to vacate the seat, stating that it was reserved. After waiting for 15 minutes, he left the venue when no seat was given to him.
"It was wrongly reported by the media that (I) left oath ceremony of LG because of not getting the desired seat. I sat where one officer seated me, another officer got me vacate that saying it was reserved. Waited for 15 minutes, that seat will be provided anywhere, left when it was not given," Vardhan tweeted in Hindi.
He also regretted that despite being a Member of Parliament from Delhi, he could not participate in the
oath ceremony of the new Lt Governor and congratulated Saxena, saying Delhi will emerge as the best city under his tenure.
