Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is scheduled to leave for the C40 World Mayors Summit at Copenhagen Tuesday and speak there Wednesday, had not received mandatory clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs till Monday night, sources said, adding that his flight is scheduled at 2 pm. The conference, where the CM plans to share the AAP government’s experience of dealing with Delhi’s polluted air, through policies such as the odd-even vehicle rationing scheme, is slated to be held from October 9-12. Delhi government sources claimed the MEA has “not been responding to our attempts to reach out to it”. “Even if the clearance comes tomorrow, how will the visa be processed so quickly? The CM is scheduled to leave Tuesday. We had sent a detailed proposal to the MEA six weeks ago,” the source claimed. Responding to questions at the weekly media briefing Friday, MEA official spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said, “Normally, I do not answer any query on specific political clearance. I can just explain the process. A decision is taken on multiple inputs, some inputs we get from the mission. It takes into account the nature of the event., the level of participation from other countries. And also the kind of invitation which has been extended.” “If there is an event abroad where a certain individual is invited and you have representation from other countries which is at a very lower level, in that case, we do advise the person that ‘look this event is not fit to be attended by a minister’. The objective is to ensure that the prestige of the country is not compromised,” he said.
