He said possession of ID cards was desirable but definitely not mandatory.

The U-turn comes a day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue, and hours after a Congress delegation paid a visit to Raj Niwas. UP Chief Minister Mayawati, too, slammed the decision today, calling it “anti poor” and “unconstitutional”.

Khanna said: “I had not issued any orders of compulsory possession of ID cards or their checking by police from January 15. I had made this statement in view of the heightened security threats and improving public security consciousness in the city and had instructed the police commissioner to increase surveillance in different parts of the NCR to screen persons arousing suspicion.

“During such screenings, possession of any photo ID documents would be a convenience.”

The hasty retreat came after a delegation of Members of Parliament from Delhi, DPCC chief J P Aggarwal, and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit met Khanna this morning and sought a clarification on the issue.

“The announcement had created great confusion and even panic among Delhiites,” Dikshit said, “especially because there was no clarity on the penalty (to be) imposed by the police for non-possession of ID cards. Delhi is a city where people from all over the country come for their livelihood, and they are more than welcome here.”

“We told him that in case such an order was made which applied to the country, then we would welcome it.” But, she added, it does not make sense “just for Delhi”.

Khanna, meanwhile, clarified that he had not “intended, or even suggested”, that there would be any penal provisions.

Sources in Raj Niwas confirmed that there has been pressure from politicians across party lines since Khanna made the statement making ID cards mandatory.

The Haryana Roadways’ Workers Association — 1,700 buses from the state enter the Capital daily — had also threatened to pull off the fleet if their drivers are “harassed under the garb of licence revalidation”.

Newsline notes
L-G: Life’s good in days of drivel
January 4, 2008
A slightly late new year blitz hits Delhi. The Lieutenant Governor, Tejendra Khanna, says Delhiites will have to go around town with a photo identity card, starting in just over a week. The “or else” caveat follows the announcement, though he leaves it as vague as the sight of traffic cops on a foggy January night.

“From the law and order and security point of view,” Khanna says, “Delhi is always sensitive.” Bingo, but: even terrorists who had attacked the Parliament had entered the premises with what the security men thought were ‘valid’ press cards.

January 5, 2008
Legal experts Newsline speaks with call the move bunkum, and in as many words. Tejendra Khanna rephrases his much-panned phrase: not everyone, he says, will be checked. Of course, sir, for 60,000-odd men and women in khaki cannot inspect identity cards of 1.67 crore Delhiites and match the photos every day. Simple mathematics says that is well nigh impossible.

Cops, Khanna says, will ask for ID proof from only those deemed suspicious. Of course, sir, but do cops not do the same even in pre-ID-is-mandatory days? Same evening, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit says she was completely unaware of the move. Question time: what is the distance between the L-G’s and the CM’s offices?

January 6, 2008
More mirth in the media, and in Sunday-evening parties across the Capital. All at the expense of the L-G’s diktat. Chief Minister Dikshit reiterates her cluelessness. Her Bihar counterpart, Nitish Kumar, smells a politico-socio-economico tang in the identity crisis of the ID card idea. Says it’s a move to target population from the state.