: The city has become a “strike capital” as the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) blame each other for the financial crises of the municipal corporations, the Delhi Congress said on Wednesday.
As employees of the civic bodies started yet another strike on Wednesday, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) said BJP-ruled municipal corporations and the Centre as well as the AAP government in Delhi were to be blamed for the “chaotic situation”.
DPCC spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee said the “despicable situation” had arisen because of “rampant corruption and inefficiency” in the corporations, which have been ruled by the BJP since 2007. She added that the AAP government was also to blame as it had withheld Rs.3,000 crore from the corporations that was due as per the recommendations of the Third Delhi Finance Commission.
Blaming the Centre for cutting funds, she added that when the Congress was in power, Rs.3,128 crore were allocated for the corporations in 2012-2013, but the Finance Minister reduced the amount to Rs.2,477 crore. The Delhi government further deducted Rs.62 crore.
Ms. Mukherjee added that the corporations had failed to increase their revenue. She said there has been a deliberate delay in drawing up a new contract for toll tax collection that had cost a cumulative loss of Rs.269 crore in one year.
