Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that the Delhi government will move court seeking greater share of funding from the Centre and added that it would split the additional funds halfway with the cash-strapped municipal corporations.
Speaking in the Delhi Assembly, Mr. Kejriwal said: “Delhi’s people pay ₹1.5 lakh crore in income tax. But, when it comes to the Centre’s new Finance Commission, Delhi’s name is not in the list of States.”
“We will go to the Supreme Court,” he added.
Mr. Kejriwal said that for releasing funds, Delhi was not being treated as a State or a Union Territory (UT).
“If it was a UT, then the Centre should give the entire Budget (₹52,000 crore in 2018-19), otherwise, Delhi should be included in the list of States under the 15th Finance Commission, Mr. Kejriwal said.
With reference to the municipal corporations, which have been unable to pay salaries and arrears on time, Mr. Kejriwal said that if the Delhi government got more funds, it would split it with the municipal corporations.
Referring to the hunger strike by some municipal corporation sanitation workers, which completed 16 days on Wednesday, Mr. Kejriwal said he has requested them to end it.
‘Regularise workers’
He gave directions to Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain to convey to the municipal corporations, through the Director of Local Bodies, to regularise all contract sanitation workers, which is one of the demands of the agitating employees.
In addition, the workers have been demanding arrears for those who have been regularised. Mr. Kejriwal said that the Delhi Development Authority had ₹21,000 crore in deposits and could give the municipal corporations the interest it earns on the amount in order to meet payments.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said the workers’ “demands were justified” and that a total of ₹765 crore was needed by the corporations.
He asked the government to release the first quarter payment of the corporations early and asked the Chief Minister to hold a meeting with municipal officers and staff to resolve the issue.
