Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday wrote to the Mayors of the three municipal corporations in Delhi, requesting them to desist from “petty politics” over the issue of delayed salaries to health workers in MCD hospitals.
The three Mayors had earlier this week protested in front of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence claiming a large amount of balance payment from the Delhi government to the MCDs was due. Mr. Sisodia had termed their claim “bogus”.
“From your actions, it is clear that rather than finding a viable resolution to the matter using all administrative options available to the MCDs, you are only interested in peddling lies and indulging in shameful politics over the issue,” Mr. Sisodia stated.
He also sought to present facts showing that not only had the Delhi government paid all the funds due to the MCDs as per the Fifth Delhi Finance Commission it paid over and above this amount resulting in a “huge outstanding loan”.
According to Mr. Sisodia, as on April 1 2020, out of a total outstanding loan of ₹6,008 crore, as per records of the Urban Development Department, ₹1,977 crore was outstanding from the EDMC, ₹3,243 crore from the North Corporation and ₹788 crore from the SDMC. The three civic bodies, he said, collectively owed ₹2596.32 crore in arrears to the Delhi Jal Board.
For the current financial year 2020-21, Mr. Sisodia stated, as per Fifth Delhi Finance Commission calculations, a total of ₹1,965.91 crore was due until October 26, out of which ₹1,752.61 crore had already been paid. “So it is clear that no major amount is due from government of NCT of Delhi, and any other figure that the Mayors of MCDs are demanding from government of NCT of Delhi is fictional and an attempt to divert the attention of public from the deep financial mismanagement and corruption inside the MCDs,” he stated.
It was the Central Government, Mr. Sisodia argued, that had not paid the due amount of ₹12,000 crore to the MCDs. The Centre, he wrote, provides grants to all the municipal corporations of the country that is calculated based on the population and for every person residing in that city ₹488 is allotted from municipal development fund.
“In total, ₹2,87,636 is given as municipal funds to all the cities of the country except the Delhi MCDs. The Central government has granted funds to Ghaziabad and Gurugram from this fund, but none to the MCDs in Delhi. Based on Delhi’s population, this amounts to a total of ₹12,000 crore over the last ten years that should have been granted by the Centre to the MCDs,” he wrote.
