The Mayors of the three BJP-ruled Municipal Corporations sat on a dharna outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence on Monday demanding financial dues to the tune of thousands of crores.
North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Jai Prakash, South Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Anamika Mithilesh Singh and East Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Nirmal Jain demanded that the Delhi government release ₹13,000 crore to the civic bodies.
The alleged fund crunch is understood to have affected an estimated two lakh municipal employees, including doctors, nurses and sanitation workers.
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The three Mayors said they had reached Mr. Kejriwal’s official residence at 6, Flagstaff Road, in the morning to meet him but were not allowed to enter the premises. They remained outside his residence till 8 p.m., following which Health Minister Satyendar Jain met them and, according to the BJP, assured them that the needful would be done.
“I told the three Mayors that the Centre is supposed to give ₹12,000 crore to the civic bodies. The Centre is supposed to give ₹488 per individual as grant to civic bodies but they have not paid for years. The Delhi government also has outstanding loan of ₹6000 crore on the municipalities and if there is any due on us we will repay them,” Mr. Jain said, adding that he had received instructions from Mr. Kejriwal to meet the Mayors at 2 p.m. but the BJP leaders did not turn up.
He accused the Mayors of politicking over the issue instead of seeking to solve it. “If they were facing trouble in running civic bodies, they could have asked the Centre for help,” Mr. Jain said, adding: “We have given an open invitation to hand over the civic bodies to us.”
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Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said the Mayors will seek a meeting with the CM again on Tuesday and added that the funds were being deliberately stalled by the Delhi government.