"All this drama is just excuse": Delhi CM Rekha Gupta on AAP's ruckus over CAG report

"All this drama is just an excuse because they could not listen to the facts written in the CAG reports... I will not let even a single penny of the state treasury go to waste...," said the Delhi CM.

She also accused AAP of misusing Delhi's tax revenue for election campaigns in other states 1. Gupta claimed that the AAP leaders are rattled by the release of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports, which expose their misdeeds.

"They were the people who collected tax from Delhi and used it for elections in other states... We are releasing all the CAG reports one by one, so they (AAP leaders) are rattled by it. They cannot dare sit in front of us in the house and listen to their deeds," added Rekha Gupta.

The Delhi CM said that the AAP leaders couldn't bear to face the truth and therefore created a drama around the removal of Babasaheb Ambedkar's portrait. She emphasised that the Narendra Modi government has ensured Ambedkar receives the respect he deserves, more than any previous government.

"They just needed an excuse to get out of the house, so they picked up this issue of Babasaheb Ambedkar's portrait... Narendra Modi government has ensured that Babasaheb Ambedkar gets his due respect, which no government could do...," added Gupta.

On Tuesday, 21 AAP MLAs were suspended for disrupting Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena's inaugural address by raising slogans against the alleged removal of portraits of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from Chief Minister Rekha Gupta's office in the assembly.

The Delhi CM remarks came after a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Delhi's health infrastructure was tabled in the Assembly on Friday, which highlighted significant shortcomings in Delhi's healthcare infrastructure, including staff shortages, inadequate facilities, and poor management of healthcare services.

The 2025 CAG Report on Performance Audit on 'Public Health Infrastructure and Management of Health Services' (Report No. 3 of the year 2024) was placed in the Legislative Assembly of Delhi on February 28, 2025.

This audit aimed to assess the availability of health infrastructure, manpower, machinery, and equipment in health institutions, the adequacy of financial resources allocated, and the efficacy in managing health services in NCTD. This report contains audit findings pertaining to secondary and tertiary hospitals only.

The report, which covered the period from 2016-17 to 2021-22, found that there was a 21 per cent shortage of staff in the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD).

The report also highlighted that the shortage of specialists, including super-specialist doctors, was as high as 30 per cent. It further pointed out a lack of essential medicines, equipment, and consumables in hospitals.

Many hospitals lacked basic facilities, including dietary services and radiological diagnostic services, while the waiting time for major surgeries ranged from 2-3 months to 6-8 months.

The report also identified issues in healthcare management, such as delays in the empanelment of drug testing laboratories, staff shortages in the Drugs Control Department, and a lack of accreditation for hospitals and laboratories.

Waiting times for major surgeries in the Surgery and Burn & Plastic Surgery Departments of LNH were recorded at 2-3 months and 6-8 months, respectively. At the same time, six out of 12 modular OTs in RGSSH and all seven modular OTs in JSSH were lying idle due to manpower shortages.

Many ambulances under the Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS) were found to be operating without essential equipment and devices. (ANI)