Arvind Kejriwal promises to end ‘raid raj’ in Gujarat if voted to power

New Delhi, Aug 07: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday vowed to end "raid raj" if voted to power in the upcoming assembly elections due in December this year.

"We will bring an end to Raid Raj. There will be no raids on traders. We trusted the traders in Delhi and our revenue has gone up from Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 70,000 crore in the last seven years. The only condition of the traders is they should not be harassed," said Kejriwal.

Kejriwal also guaranteed that Gujarat's tribal advisory committee would be headed by a person from the community instead of the chief minister, as has been the case in the state.

The Delhi chief minister was speaking to reporters in Vadodara on the second day of his two-day visit to the BJP-ruled Gujarat, where the Assembly elections are due later this year. He will address a rally at Bodeli in the tribal-dominated Chhota Udepur district of Gujarat later in the day.

The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution deals with provisions related to the administration and control of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes. The PESA Act was enacted by Parliament in 1996 to ensure self- governance for people living in Scheduled Areas.

The states were required to formulate rules for the effective implementation of the Act to strengthen gram sabhas in Scheduled Areas.

Kejriwal said, "We will implement provisions of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution word to word. We will also strictly implement the PESA Act, which says no government can take action in a tribal area without the gram sabha's consent."

"There is a tribal advisory committee. Its work is to oversee the development of tribal regions, how to utilise funds. The law says that the tribal advisory committee chairman should be a tribal. In Gujarat, the chief minister heads the committee. This will be stopped," he said.