The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is gearing up for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections to be held in 2022. From demanding an apology from Shiv Sena leader Nitin Nandgaonkar over Karachi Sweets row to asking the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders to clarify their stance on the contentious new farm bills and even 'strongly objecting' to the chopping of trees at Aarey forest, the AAP has hit out at the ruling party.
On Friday, AAP MLA Atishi Marlena slammed the Shiv Sena and MVA govt's "poor governance responsible for increasingly unlivable conditions in Mumbai and low standards of living for Mumbaikars".
"Public education is in a sorry state in Mumbai. There has been a steep drop in student enrollment in BMC schools. In the last decade it has literally halved from 63,392 in 2008 to 30,075 in 2017. Moreover, 206 govt aided schools have been shut and teacher recruitment has been pending for many years," Atishi said. "Primary health care centres are nowhere to be seen, tertiary hospitals are overburdened with nearly 47% vacancy in staff," she added.
Atishi further said that former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had claimed that Mumbai is open defecation free "but in reality, Mumbai has 1 toilet seat for 42 males and 34 females". "Despite a whopping 1,600 crores allocated for road improvement budget, Mumbai's roads are riddled with potholes. As per today's reports Mumbai's AQI is worse than that of Delhi, with poor air quality due to poor waste management, general air pollution and fire in garbage dumps and this is despite of the benefit of having a coastline with the Arabian Sea," she added.
"Mumbai's budget is much more that of Delhi. The AAP is presenting itself as a viable alternative and will contest all 227 seats in the upcoming BMC polls in 2022," the AAP MLA said.
