In a sharply worded letter, the Delhi LG said pollution turned into a public health emergency under Arvind kejriwal’s rule, with measures such as odd-even and smog towers serving more as publicity tools than lasting solutions.
BY PC Bureau
New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has written an unusually sharp 15-page demi-official (D.O.) letter to former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of 11 years of “अकर्मण्यता” (inaction), “fact-less propaganda” and reducing governance to announcements and advertising while leaving the national capital mired in pollution, flooding, garbage mountains and collapsing infrastructure.
The letter, numbered D.O. No. LN/2025/776 and dated December 23, 2025, is addressed to Kejriwal at his official Lodi Estate residence. Written primarily in Hindi with English references, the communication marks one of the strongest personal and political indictments of the AAP leadership by a sitting Lieutenant Governor.
Sharp attack on AAP’s governance record
Saxena writes that Delhi’s voters “removed” the Aam Aadmi Party government through a “स्पष्ट जनादेश” on February 8, but Kejriwal and his colleagues “learned nothing” from the defeat and instead continued with “negativity and baseless propaganda” rather than introspection.
He accuses Kejriwal of running a government driven by announcements, advertisements, social media posts and headlines, describing him as a “Master of Announcements and Execution of None.”
According to the L-G, 11 years of AAP rule turned Delhi into a city of broken roads, overflowing sewers, silted drains, three towering garbage dumps and toxic air — visible symbols of administrative failure. He alleges that Kejriwal neither held regular cabinet meetings nor kept any department under his direct charge, and even avoided signing files, calling it a “unique” example of non-governance in the country.
Read: DO Letter to Arvind Kejriwal_
Pollution, water crisis and flooding
A substantial portion of the letter focuses on air and water pollution, drainage failures and recurring floods. Saxena recalls a 2022 conversation in which he claims Kejriwal dismissed severe air pollution as a 15–20-day annual problem amplified by media, activists and courts, advising the L-G to “ज़्यादा ध्यान मत दीजिये.”
Saxena alleges that:
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Air pollution became a public emergency in 2016–17 under AAP, but the government relied on schemes such as odd-even, smog towers and publicity campaigns like “Red Light On, Gaadi Off” for political projection, while neglecting road repair and dust control, worsening PM10 and PM2.5 levels.
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Coordination failure with the Centre and neighbouring states replaced cooperation, pushing Delhi into what he calls a “man-made disaster.”
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Water crisis worsened as nearly 58% of drinking water was lost due to leaking pipelines, according to Delhi’s own economic survey, enabling the rise of a “tanker mafia.”
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Reservoir neglect saw the Wazirabad reservoir desilted neither once in 11 years, reducing its capacity to “just 4%,” despite Delhi High Court directions, while blame was shifted to Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the monsoon.
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Flooding and drainage in 2023–24 resulted from chronic neglect of sewer desilting and the absence of a drainage master plan, leading to sewage backflow into homes and streets.
The L-G further claims Kejriwal attempted to stall cleaning of the Najafgarh drain and the Yamuna by seeking a Supreme Court stay on initiatives that Saxena says began after his own inspections.
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Spending, jobs and stalled projects
Contrasting AAP’s record with what he calls progress made “despite your fierce opposition,” Saxena lists projects executed by the DDA, the Centre or the new state government over the past three years.
These include large urban parks and heritage sites such as Asita, Baansera, Yamuna Vatika, Amrit Udyan, Kranti Udyan, Sadbhavna Park, and restoration of Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Sanjay Van, Shalimar Bagh and Roshanara Bagh.
He also cites allotment of thousands of DDA flats to slum dwellers and middle-income families, new sports infrastructure including an ice-skating rink and centres of excellence, completion of a transit-oriented development complex at Karkardooma, and near-completion of the 250-acre Bharat Vandana Park in Dwarka.
Saxena accuses Kejriwal of:
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Failing to build a single new hospital in 11 years and abandoning promised bed expansion for want of ₹600 crore, while spending nearly ₹2,500 crore on advertisements over five years.
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Delaying payments of ₹900 crore for the Rithala–Narela–Kundli Metro line and ₹1,180 crore for Delhi’s share in the RRTS project, even as advertising allocations touched about ₹2,300 crore between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
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Spending more on publicity than implementation, citing the Business Blasters programme (₹60 crore seed funding versus ₹87.16 crore on advertising) and the Bio-decomposer project (₹41.68 lakh project cost versus ₹16.94 crore publicity).
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Advertising an unheld Delhi Shopping Festival in early 2023 at a cost of ₹8.12 crore.
The letter also flags alleged illegal appointments of around 450 advisers and consultants without reservation norms, while claiming that 30,000 regular government jobs were issued in three years through the Services Department.
Personal and political barbs
The letter is notable for its personal tone. Saxena accuses Kejriwal of “दोहरे व्यक्तित्व” (double-faced conduct), alleging he publicly speaks “white lies” while privately taking contradictory positions.
He recounts an incident from January 2023 in which Kejriwal allegedly misquoted him as saying he did not respect the Constitution or Supreme Court orders. Saxena also claims Kejriwal privately assured him support to act against party leaders who attacked the L-G’s family, which he calls an example of “चारित्रिक दोयमता.”
Saxena writes that after AAP’s 2025 defeat, Kejriwal “disappeared from Delhi,” began operating from Punjab, and chose obstruction and misinformation over the role of a constructive opposition leader. He says Kejriwal has blocked his phone number, forcing him to convey his views through an open letter.
The letter concludes with Christmas and New Year greetings to Kejriwal — and pointedly, to “the people of Punjab.”
