Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders on Monday inspected the conditions of the streets of the national capital as part of its ‘pothole-free by Diwali’ mission.

After carrying out the inspection in the Okhla area, Atishi said, “For two days, Arvind Kejriwal and I inspected the roads of Delhi and found that the condition of roads is very bad… Arvind Kejriwal has given a call to all the party MLAs and ministers to work towards restoring the roads of Delhi at the earliest.”

“I have taken up the responsibility of roads in south and south-east Delhi. Saurabh Bharadwaj is responsible for inspecting East Delhi roads, Gopal Rai will be inspecting roads of north-east Delhi, Imran Hussain will be inspecting roads of central and New Delhi districts, Kailash Gehlot will be responsible for south-west and Outer Delhi, and Mukesh Sehrawat for north-west Delhi… In the next 3-4 months, all roads will be restored. We will try to give pothole-free roads to the people of Delhi by Diwali,” Atishi told ANI.

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In a post on X, Atishi said, “The whole cabinet of the Delhi government has been on Ground Zero since 6 am to inspect the roads and make all PWD roads in Delhi pothole-free. I have installed roads in NSIC Okhla, Modi Mill flyover, Chirag Delhi, Tughalakabad extension, Mathura Road, Ashram Chowk and underpass.”

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia visited Patparganj in east Delhi.

To a question on the message AAP’s pothole-free campaign will send, considering it has been in power in Delhi for 10 years, Saurabh Bhardwaj said, “This should be seen honestly. The government is saying the roads are not in good shape and must be repaired. Why is the BJP complaining? Monsoon rain is a factor behind the condition of roads. But the biggest factor is that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was in jail for six months and attempts were made to stop all work in Delhi. Now he is out, he has taken charge and we have been told to get this done on a war footing. You will see results soon.”

Minister Gopal Rai inspected areas in North East Delhi, including Yamuna Vihar and Wazirabad Road. Speaking to news agency PTI, “We have one objective: get all roads in Delhi fixed,” he said.

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Earlier, former Chief Minister Kejriwal assured Delhi residents that work halted due to his arrest would resume. “I visited DU with Atishi yesterday as well. The road was damaged. Today, we have come here. So, I would like to urge Atishi to have an assessment of all the PWD roads in Delhi in the next 3-4 days. All our MLAs and ministers will hit the road and have this assessment. Repair work on all the damaged roads will be done on a war footing in the next few months so that people do not face any problems.”

The pothole-free mission is the first all-out governance campaign by the AAP after the Supreme Court granted bail to Arvind Kejriwal in a corruption case. Days after his bail, the AAP leader made a surprise announcement to give up the Chief Minister’s post and return to office only after he was elected again. Following his resignation, Atishi has taken over as the Chief Minister as AAP preps for the Assembly polls in Delhi due early next year.

(With inputs from agencies)