EDMC seeks ₹2,000 crore special package from govt

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) will need a “special package” from the Delhi government to tide over the massive budget deficit, leaders and officials said on Tuesday.

The request comes at a time when the civic body is dealing with an indefinite strike called by sanitation workers as it has been unable to pay salaries for over two months. This is the fifth time that workers have gone on strike to demand their salaries in the past two years, with the EDMC’s financial woes only mounting. The BJP leadership of the corporation blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of delaying payments and reducing allocations.

Jitendra Chaudhary, chairperson of the Standing Committee, said that either the Delhi government should implement the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission’s report, which gives the civic bodies a bigger share of Delhi’s taxes, or release a special package for the EDMC.

‘Owed ₹4,928 crore’

“The government has sat over the report for years now. It should implement it right away. We are owed ₹4,928.76 crore as per the report. If not that, we should at least get a special package of ₹2,000 crore in the meantime,” said Mr. Chaudhary.

Commissioner Mohanjeet Singh said that a special package of ₹331 crore would be needed to pay salaries till February.

‘Created with a deficit’

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, EDMC Mayor Satya Sharma said that the corporation had been created with a huge deficit. When the erstwhile Congress government split up the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2012, east Delhi accounted for 16 per cent of the revenue and 26 per cent of the expenses.

“Sheila Dikshit had said that we would get additional funds to address this mismatch. But, not only did we not get that money, even the bare minimum due to us has not been given,” said Ms. Sharma.

Responding to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s tweet on Monday accusing the BJP councillors of misusing funds, Ms. Sharma said that the EDMC was open to an independent probe. She accused the AAP government of playing a political game keeping in mind the municipal polls later this year.