A day after it was revealed that as many as 11 inmates of the Delhi government-run Asha Kiran Home for mentally retarded persons died in the last two months, the AAP government and political leaders woke up with a start on Monday.

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Shockingly, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) was allocated Rs 793 crore this fiscal year, but it manged to spend only Rs 452.70 crore till November 2016. And of that, not a single paisa was spent on revamping the Home or constructing new such facilities. Currently, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia holds the portfolio after Social Welfare Minister Sandeep Kumar was sacked by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over an alleged sex scandal.

The issue took a political turn on Monday with both Congress and BJP lashing out at Kejriwal, condemning him for the "callousness".

Springing into damage control mode, Kejriwal directed Chief Secretary MM Kutty to intervene immediately and set the situation right. Kutty has been asked to file a report in this regard within a week. In addition, Sisodia visited the Home along with bureaucrats to see the condition for himself.

Expressing distress, Kejriwal also hit out at SWD Secretary Dilraj Kaur, who runs the Home, and sought an explanation behind her silence on the 11 deaths.

"I am extremely disturbed by the prevailing conditions in the Home, as reported by the Delhi Commission For Women (DCW). The Chief Secretary should personally ensure that all these deficiencies are removed within a week," Kejriwal wrote in a note to Kutty. He further asked the Chief Secretary to fix responsibility and present a report latest by February 13.

Meanwhile earlier in the day, state BJP President and MP Manoj Tiwari visited the Home and held the AAP government responsible for the death of 11 inmates. He alleged that Kejriwal was trying to evade responsibility and mislead the people of Delhi.

"The SWD of the Delhi government has never cared about the poor inmates. The callousness of the Chief Minister of keeping the department without a minister led to this chaos. The unaccountable Asha Kiran Home administration also paid little heed towards the children's welfare," Tiwari said.

Similarly, Congress leader and former Social Welfare Minister Kiran Walia also flayed the SWD, alleging, "All the good work of the previous Congress government has been undone by the AAP government. Five 'halfway homes', including the one in Dwarka and two in Rohini, were built by 2013 during my three years as a minister. The family members would leave the mentally challenged people at these homes in the morning and take them away by day-end."

Despite that, the government did nothing to decongest the overcrowded Home. The matter came to light after BJP leader Vijendra Gupta raised the issue on Saturday, following which DCW member Promila Gupta conducted a surprise inspection and stayed at the Home overnight.

On Sunday, the Commission issued a notice to the SWD, seeking explanation about the mysterious deaths and the "violation of human rights", latest by Wednesday.

SCW Chief Swati Maliwal also set-up an inquiry in to the condition of the Home and issued a notice to the Secretary, Social Welfare, of the Delhi government to respond within 72 hours.