Unable to pay salaries, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has intensified efforts to get government departments clear their property tax dues, which are over Rs. 400 crore.
EDMC Mayor Meenakshi said on Tuesday that many government departments, including Delhi Government schools and the Delhi Development Authority, were “major defaulters” when it came to property tax.
The Mayor had said on Monday that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did not appear to be taking the financial woes seriously, as he had not given her an appointment to discuss it.
The EDMC runs an annual deficit of about Rs. 500 crore, and the realisation of these dues could offer a big relief. As per the EDMC, the DDA is the biggest ‘defaulter’ as it owes Rs. 116 crore in property tax for its various buildings and open land.
For its 136 schools in East Delhi, the Delhi Government’s Regional Director of Education owes the corporation Rs. 16.52 crore in property tax.
Other defaulters include the Northern Railways, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, Delhi Transco Ltd, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Power Grid Corporation of India, and BSES.
Both the police and the prison system seem to be defaulters in the EDMC’s books, with the East and North-East districts of the Delhi Police owing Rs. 85.37 lakh for their police stations and the Mandoli Jail having Rs. 35.66 lakh in dues.
The Mayor said, “We are asking all the defaulters to pay up before March 31. We will take appropriate action, like sending notices and attaching accounts, if they don’t clear their previous and this years’ dues.”
The EDMC has had a deficit since its creation in 2012, but the situation has worsened recently.
No salaries
Salaries and pensions have not been paid at all for the month of January, and old-age and widows’ pensions have not been given for 22 months.
