New Delhi: The AAP on Thursday claimed that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has not paid Rs 2,137 crore to the city’s north municipal corporation and sought the intervention of Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta in the matter. The Delhi BJP, in its response, claimed that the municipal corporations will be able to come out of financial crunch only after the Delhi government releases funds for them.
Addressing a press conference, AAP functionary Durgesh Pathak said, “BJP-led SDMC has not paid Rs 2,137 crore to the North MCD and for the past several years. This money is with the South MCD. We seek the intervention of Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta in the matter”. Pathak further alleged that if the SDMC pays this money to the NDMC, then the pending salaries of the latter’s employees would be released easily. “Both the municipal corporations are run by the BJP and both the mayors sit on the same floor of the same office building. But, unfortunately, the North MCD has not written a single letter to the SDMC asking them to release the fund,” he said. “The BJP is so careless about paying their employees that they do not dare to ask for the funds from their counterparts. But the BJP continuously attacks and blames the Aam Aadmi Party government for their financial crunch, he added.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Kapoor said Pathak should ask Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to immediately release all backlogged municipal funds as per third and fourth Delhi Finance Commission recommendations. “The day Kejriwal government releases past dues, MCDs will be comfortably placed,” he said. He also claimed Pathak’s statement was a “cover up” for his Councilor Prem Chauhan’s “unruly conduct” in Wednesday’s SDMC meeting.
Chauhan, in response, said he was suspended in an “undemocratic manner” for raising the issue of non-payment of salaries of employees and not releasing funds for the NDMC. Today I tried to raise two different issues. One was regarding the non-payment of the salary of the DTC drivers and the second one was regarding the non-releasing of funds for the North MCD,” he said. “I was not allowed to speak in the House and in a very undemocratic manner they stopped me from raising these issues and also suspended me later. I want to tell the BJP that you cannot intimidate us in this manner and the AAP will continue the fight for the rights of employees till the time BJP does not pay their salaries, he added.
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