Nearly six months after the launch of the nationwide Swachh Bharat campaign, the Capital’s municipal corporations are yet to receive funding to strengthen their sanitation services.
Officials in the three Bharatiya Janata Party-led civic bodies admitted this on Monday. This comes at a time when sanitation workers have been on strike for days as the corporations have been unable to pay them.
The cash-strapped civic bodies had ramped up garbage clearing, sweeping and repair work to improve their cleaning services after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the mission to clean India on October 2, 2014.
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However, the corporations have been struggling to pay employees for months now, leading to sanitation workers refusing to lift garbage last week.
On Monday, at a meeting of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee, the Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel asked officials about the fate of the Rs.500 crore ‘Swachh Bharat fund’ promised by the Centre.
Additional Commissioner Deepak Hastir replied to the Congress leader saying that no funds had been received by the corporation for Swachh Bharat. Mr. Hastir said the corporation had first submitted an application for a scheme of Rs.250 crore, later revising it to Rs.350 crore.
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“Ten days ago, we were told that the scheme we suggested has components that are not under Swachh Bharat so we have been asked to give a revised scheme,” said Mr. Hastir.
Officials of the South and East Delhi civic bodies also admitted that the funds under Swachh Bharat had not been received so far.
“The Centre got the corporation to do all the work, but hasn’t given a single rupee,” remarked Mr. Goel.
Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress in the municipal corporations hit out against the Centre for cutting the civic bodies’ budgetary allocations. Mr. Goel alleged that the Modi Government had cut Rs.306 crore in the allocations for the North Corporation.
The Leader of the Opposition in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, Farhad Suri, said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s budget for 2015-2016 had cut the three corporations’ allocations by Rs.651 crore.
BJP councillors had held a protest against the Aam Aadmi Party-ruled Delhi Government last week, alleging it had reduced the corporations’ funding.
Mr. Suri said: “The BJP can protest against the AAP Government, but what about the fact that the Modi Government has reduced the corporations’ allocations.”
The BJP leaders refused to comment on the Opposition’s allegations.