Over a month since the Malviya Nagar fire tragedy shook Delhi, Minister of Home, Education and Power Ashish Sood spoke to The Tribune about government plans to fix gaps in the national capital’s fire safety landscape. Sood also spoke about the achievements and challenges across the education and power sectors. Excerpts:

What are your key achievements in the first one and a half years of government?

My first responsibility is to take care of the mental and physical health of all students in Delhi. We have been able to do that successfully by enacting laws to regulate fee and control coaching institutes. This is one of our biggest achievements. Moreover, we have been able to provide good infrastructure. However, we refrain from using terms like ‘world-class’ because we believe this is our responsibility. In the previous financial year, we have been able to install 9,000 smart classrooms and another 9,000 will be installed this year. As many as 10,000 computers were installed last year, and the same number will be installed this year.

Can you believe the so-called world-class education model was functioning without digital infrastructure or functional ICT labs? So, this is also a big achievement.

We have rolled out the process of construction of new school buildings. As many as 27 tenders have been floated and 75 buildings are to be augmented as CM SHRI (smart government schools). Around Rs 1,200 crore is being spent on these projects. Narela Edu City is also coming up. That’s a big achievement.

Further, easing of the fire licensing policy, fire audit and fire NOC are also big moves. Over Rs 1,000 crore has been sanctioned for the construction of roads and other infrastructure in unauthorised colonies.

We have also been able to reduce the animosity between the government and private schools.

What have you done to reduce this “animosity”?

We are interacting with private schools, attending their functions because children studying there are also our responsibility. We cannot say that you are all mafias or anything like that. These schools are also doing good work.

Despite the law, fee hike complaints by some private schools continue. Any action?

There are many legacy issues. Several old fee hike cases in private schools began before we came to power. We are investigating and resolving every complaint we receive now. We got many students admitted to schools. If someone lost a case in the court earlier, we have to follow the law. We now have a strong fee regulation law and private schools are challenging it in the court. They have hired expensive lawyers. That itself shows the strength of the legislation. We are confident that it will stand legal scrutiny.

What are you doing to strengthen fire safety after the Malviya Nagar tragedy?

Delhi’s entire firefighting system and fire rule landscape need to be revisited. The kind of firefighting equipment we had in our buildings earlier needs to change. Most residential buildings in Delhi are not mandated to have fire NOCs. We are mulling a revision of this position. We have also decided to modernise the fire system. We are working on modernisation for the next 25-50 years.

Will you mandate fire NOCs for residential buildings?

We are working on it. Let us evaluate the existing laws, new building bylaws and the need for new infrastructure. Then we will comment on it.

What about the replacement of Chinese CCTV cameras?

The erstwhile PWD had installed these cameras. The government has said that this was being investigated. New budget and new models are being studied. Due precautions will have to be taken.

Delhi’s prison overcrowding rate is 195%. What is the status of the new prison?

The Home Minister has laid the foundation stone for the Narela prison complex. We want a big prison complex instead of Tihar Jail. The current focus is to build the Narela High security prison.

Your response to the recent spate in violent crimes?

We are working in a big way on police modernisation. Soon, we will be able to rein in these stray events. Face recognition cameras are being used. New technology is being deployed. Both the Delhi and the Central governments are committed to adopting modern technologies to improve law and order.

Delhi successfully met record electricity demand of 8,749 MW this summer. How was this achieved?

When we came to power, there was an embargo on the discoms that they should not do shutdowns before elections. Only narratives and social media statements will not yield results. This is my conviction. So, we decided to have a one-year and a three-year power plan. Delhi Power Master Plan – 2030 was prepared in which when we go to the elections, we can tell what changes we have made. In that, the mapping of every Assembly segment was done to find out what feeders, what transformers are facing problems and how can these be dealt with? We spent Rs 1,400 crore last year to fix these issues. In the coming times, we have a big power master plan with an aim to spend Rs 17,000 crore over the next four years. Due to proper implementation, we have been able to do so much in a year. On June 29, we managed the all-time peak demand of 8,749 MW. In the previous peak in May 2024, Delhi reeled under serial power cuts. This time, people didn't even realise we had met the demand of 8,749 MW.

How are you making students AI-ready?

Students should not become slaves to AI, they should learn from AI. For this, we are moving towards the Delhi AI mission. The focus is on responsible and ethical use of AI. We have encouraged 5 lakh students in ‘AI Grind’ to use AI for problem-solving.

What about the pending issue of guest teachers who occupy nearly 25,000 of 66,000 sanctioned posts in schools?

We are very sensitive to their issues and working day and night to find a solution.

You are developing model government schools. Are students preferring government schools?

See, it is not that easy. We do not do data jugglery like others. We want to build government schools which future generations willingly choose. With time, we will change the infrastructure. We will have to create trust that we have the best teachers, best curriculum, best infrastructure, and these are indeed the best schools. This takes time.