In the last budget session of the current term, the Opposition Congress on Tuesday hit out against the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for failing to spend money it allocated for basic amenities and development works.
Accusing the SDMC of “misrepresenting its financial position”, the Leader of the Opposition Farhad Suri told a special budget session of the House that the corporation was depicting a “rosy picture” when in fact it still owed hundreds of crores of rupees in the form of loans and arrears.
“The corporation claims it has a ₹1,500 crore surplus, but it also owes ₹516 crore to the Delhi government, ₹120 crore as pensions, ₹580 crore as arrears to sanitation workers and over ₹300 crore as per the Seventh Pay Commission,” said Mr. Suri.
This would impact the future funding of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation since the Delhi government would take into account the comparatively better financial situation of the corporation before allocating resources, said Mr. Suri
Reduced share
As per the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission, the SDMC would get a reduced share of funds compared to the north and east Delhi civic bodies, which have publicly acknowledged their financial crisis, since it claims to be in “surplus”, said Mr. Suri.
Funds going unused in key sectors, including health, education and sanitation, proved the “incompetence of the BJP-ruled administration”, said Mr. Suri
On pending payments of arrears to safai karamcharis and pensions to social welfare scheme beneficiaries, Mr. Suri said that if the final budget presented later this month did not give a definite time frame for the payments, the Congress would protest.
