‘Delhi should fight for full UT status. It will reduce tussles’

United Resident Joint Action Force URJA) president Atul Goyal says the constant fight over powers between Delhi and Centre is affecting development

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AS the campaign for the Lok Sabha election heats up in the national capital and political parties put forward their agenda, members of the United Resident Joint Action Force (URJA), a consortium of the city's 2,500 Resident Welfare Associations (RWAS), visited the The New Indian Express office on the discussion on a range of issues including pollution, parking, water scarcity and property taxes. During the conversation, URJA President Atul Goyal said the association released a manifesto and asked the candidates to implement the suggested demands. Excerpts Age

Ashish Srivastava: URJA is demanding full UT status to Delhi at a time when the opposition is asking for full statehood. Why?

Goyal: Full statehood is a political stunt. Nowhere in the world is the capital of a country a State. What we suggest is to create a corporation for each district and a council instead of a government.

Shahid Faridi: The state government complains that not much is in its hands, and this is a key reason for a tiff with the Centre. What are your comments?

Goyal: This is one key reason why we say Delhi can never be a State. If you remember, in 2013-14, when the Kejriwal government came into power, the first tussle with the Center was on rights and privileges and operations. They (the AAP government) flagged that if the accused is a central government employee, then the state government has the authority to arrest the person without obtaining clearance from the competent authority.

Ujwal Jalali: for Parking is a serious problem, and fatal brawls have beenand fatal brawls have been reported on parking issues. What is the solution?