Delhi Department Red-Flags Scheme Announced By Arvind Kejriwal, He Reacts

In dramatic developments amid the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) campaign for Delhi Assembly polls.

The capital’s Health and Family Welfare department has red-flagged the ruling AAP’s registration drive for Sanjeevani Yojana, a scheme to provide free treatment to Delhi’s residents over 60 at private and government hospitals.

In a public notice published in newspapers, the department has said that it does not have “any such supposed Sanjeevani scheme in existence”. It added that it had not authorised anyone to collect personal data from elderly citizens and is not providing any card.

This comes after AAP leaders, including Chief Minister Atishi and party convener Arvind Kejriwal, visited several areas and launched doorstep registration for Sanjeevani Yojana and Mahila Samman Yojana. The department said any individual or political party collecting such forms under the name of this scheme is “fraudulent and without any authority”.

“If a person/entity calls you or visits you with the promise to provide benefit of free treatment under this supposed non-existent scheme or provide you some “Health/Sanjeevani Scheme Card in this regard, then you are hereby advised to: (1) not believe in any promise of free treatment under the supposed non-existent “Sanjeevani scheme” (2) not to provide any personal detail to anybody claiming to provide benefits under the scheme (3) not to affix your signature or thumbprint on any document unknowingly.”

The department has said it will not be responsible for any liabilities or frauds arising out of such “unscrupulous activities”.

Shortly after the order was issued, Mr Kejriwal targeted the BJP-led central government. “The Mahila Samman Yojana and Sanjeevani Yojana have rattled them. Within the next few days, they plan to arrest Atishi ji in a fake case. Before that, senior AAP leaders would be raided,” he said in a post on X.

This order plays out against the backdrop of the power tussle between Delhi’s elected government and the Centre. The principal secretaries of all Delhi departments report to the Chief Secretary, a central government appointee. This, in effect, means that the AAP government has no control over Delhi officers, an issue it has repeatedly raised in its 10-year rule in the national capital.

The Supreme Court ruled last year that the Delhi government would control the services in the capital, but the Centre brought an ordinance and then an Act to overturn this. This Act established National Capital Civil Services Authority, comprising the Chief Minister, Delhi Chief Secretary and Principal Home Secretary. This Authority makes recommendations to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor on officials’ transfers and postings and disciplinary matters. The Chief Secretary and Principal Home Secretary are Centre’s appointees and can easily outvote the Chief Minister.