Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is yet to get political clearance to visit Denmark to attend the C40 climate change conference in Copenhagen starting on Wednesday.
“The Delhi CM was to lead an eight-member delegation for the C40 Summit. He is scheduled to depart from New Delhi on Tuesday at 2 pm but his visit now hangs in the balance as the ministry of external affairs has not granted political clearance till now. We have not yet got any communication in this regard,” a government official said, requesting anonymity.
According to the rules of the Central government, all ministers and bureaucrats require this clearance for any official foreign tour.
The official said that whereas Delhi was still waiting for permission, the Centre has “granted clearance to West Bengal urban development minister Firhad Hakim”.
“The MEA is not only refusing to share any reasons for withholding the clearance, but is also not responding to the Delhi government’s attempts to reach out to it,” the official said.
C40 is a network of the world’s megacities committed to addressing climate change. Kejriwal is scheduled to speak on the Delhi government’s experience in lowering pollution, including the odd-even road space rationing arrangement, and other related issues.
On Friday, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had declined to go into the details of Kejriwal’s case when he was asked about the matter at a regular news briefing.
Invited as the leader of one of the world’s largest metropolises, Kejriwal was supposed to join leaders of cities such as New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles and Berlin to deliberate on the climate crisis.
Kejriwal was also scheduled to address a joint press conference, to launch the Clean Air Cities Declaration, with the mayors of Paris, Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Portland, Jakarta and Barcelona.
If granted clearance, this will be Kejriwal’s second official foreign visit. In September last year, he travelled to South Korea to sign agreements between Delhi and Seoul.
Last year, the external affairs ministry had declined to accord permission to Delhi’s health minister Satyendra Jain to visit Australia on an invitation from the University of Melbourne and George Institute in Sydney.