: Hours after municipal corporations’ sanitation workers staged a protest outside CM Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, Delhi government spokesperson said that attempts are being made to create an ‘erroneous’ impression that non-payment of salaries/arrears is due to non-devolution of funds by them.
Delhi government, which has taken it in writing from the three civic Commissioners that they don’t owe them any money, said that non-plan grants-in aid are being given as per the recommendations of the Third Delhi Finance Commission report.
“All funds for North and East Corporations have been released. Only South Corporation’s Rs. 162 crore is pending and the proposal to release it is under process. After that, all the fund under Non-Plan heads earmarked for 2015-16 has been/will be released to the three bodies,” said the spokesperson.
The three civic bodies have to collect Rs. 1,555 crore as property tax from the Delhi Development Authority. “But they aren’t demanding that money from DDA. It is a huge amount and they can sail through this financial crisis easily,” said the spokesperson.
The DDA is headed by the L-G and comes under the Centre.
The AAP has blamed the Centre and the BJP-ruled corporations for not disbursing salaries to sanitation workers and said it was a “moral and constitutional obligation” of the civic agencies to keep Delhi clean.
AAP’s Delhi unit secretary Dilip Pandey claimed the government had already paid the civic bodies to ensure that the staff get their salaries on time. “BJP is misleading Delhiites and the corporations' employees,” he said.
