Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar said that the findings of the Delhi Government’s Socio-Economic Survey stating that over six lakh children do not attend anganwadis and two lakh students do not attend schools mainly due to financial constraint, has put a question mark on AAP Government, which used to boast of its “Educational Model”.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has no presence instead of addressing the pressing problems of Delhi like the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, soaring pollution levels and the economic distress of the people, he said.

The Congress leader further said that the Kejriwal Government cannot go against the findings of the survey, covering 1.02 crore out of around two crore total population in the Capital.

Kumar said that the survey was conducted between November 2018 and November 2019 on a Delhi Government order, following the death of three minor girl childs due to suspected starvation, in July 2018 in Mandawali in East Delhi, near Anganwadi No 62. The survey report was finalized in November 2020."

"The survey revealed that, 2,21,694 children, aged between 6 and 17, do not attend schools, mainly due to “financial constraint”. These children were forced into “domestic duties”, though child labour is banned in Delhi. The survey points out many distressing facts, like 42.59 per cent households in the city spend less than Rs 10,000 per month, and 90 per cent of Delhi has a monthly household expenditure of less than Rs 25,000, which has been further vitiated following the Covid pandemic lockdown, loss of employment and source of earnings," he said.

Kumar said that the survey is an eye-opener for the Arvind Government, which does not miss any opportunity to gloat over its “achievements”, though the ground reality regarding the quality of life for most people in Delhi is distressingly dismal.

"Over 60 per cent people cannot afford any other mode of transport, other than the DTC services, but with the DTC bus services in tatters, as the Arvind Government has not added even a single bus to the DTC fleet in the past seven years, though every second month the Transport Ministry claims that it has placed orders for new buses but the buses never seem to  hit the roads,"he added.