The AAP government on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that it had released about Rs. 60 crore to the three municipal corporations to combat dengue and other diseases.
Apprising of the release of the funds in an affidavit filed by the Directorate of Health Services, the government submitted before a Bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath that the amount released was about 75 per cent of the total budgetary allocation of Rs. 81.52 crore under different sanitation schemes. The first instalment of the grant-in-aid amounting to 25 per cent of the total allocation was released to the three corporations on September 17. The second instalment was to be released after submission of utilisation certificates by the local bodies on the unspent balance of previous financial year under the ‘malaria and dengue control programme’.
Though the certificates were not submitted by North and East MCDs, the government released the second tranche, considering the grave situation, Rahul Mehra, Senior Standing Counsel for the Delhi government, informed the Bench.
Advocate Arpit Bhargava, the petitioner in the matter, submitted that the funds were released only after the death of 23 patients.
The petitioner sought directions to the government to take steps to arrest the spread of the disease. The petitioner alleged that the government had taken steps that it claimed to have taken in its affidavit only after filing of public interest litigations in the matter.
Posting the matter for hearing on September 29, the Bench directed the three corporations to file comprehensive affidavits on the steps taken by them to fight dengue.
The amount released was about 75 per cent of the total budgetary allocation of Rs. 81.52 crore under sanitation schemes: govt
