DELHI CONGRESS BLAMES BJP, AAP GOVERNMENT FOR FUND CRUNCH IN MCDs— #DPCC

On Jan 28, 2016

DELHI CONGRESS BLAMES BJP, AAP GOVERNMENT FOR FUND CRUNCH IN MCDs—DPCC DEMANDS IMPLEMENTATION OF DELHI FINANCE COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS—DELHI BECOMES STRIKE CAPITAL OF DELHI—DPCC.

NEW DELHI, Jan 27—The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee said with the MCD workers going on yet another indefinite strike, Delhi has become the “strike capital” of the country. The Delhi Congress said in the past one year, the MCD had witnessed several strikes with doctors, nursers, teachers and safai karamcharis going on strikes for non-payment of their salaries, which earned Delhi the epithet of the “strike capital”. DPCC said the BJP-ruled MCDs and the Central Government and the AAP Government in Delhi were to be blamed for the present chaotic situation in the MCDs.

Addressing a press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan here today, DPCC chief spokesperson Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee said with the MCD employees going on yet another strike for non-payment of their salaries, a “despicable situation” has arisen in Delhi, which was due to the rampant corruption and inefficiency in the BJP-ruled MCDs. She said the Aam Aadmi Party Government in Delhi was also to be blamed for the present mess in the MCDs as it was the AAP Government’s apathetic attitude that has worsened the financial crisis in the MCDs. Leader of the Opposition in the South Delhi MCD Shri Farhad Suri, senior leader Shri Chattar Singh and Municipal Councillor Ishrat Jehan were also present at the press conference. The Delhi Congress demanded the AAP Government to clear Rs 3000 crore, due to the MCDs as per the recommendations of the 3^rd Delhi Finance Commission, about which the Delhi High Court had passed an order, and also implement the recommendations of the 4^th Delhi Finance Commission.

Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee said the AAP Government had no fund crunch when it allocated Rs 526 crore for its self-publicity and when it hiked the salaries of the MLAs by 400 per cent, but when it comes to allocating funds to the MCDs, the AAP Government was shying away from its responsibility. She said the Central Government has spent crores of rupees for its “Swachh Bharat” campaign and “Yoga Diwas”, but has not bothered to help the MCDs overcome their financial crises. She said when the Congress was in power, the MCDs were allocated Rs 3128 crore in 2012-13, but BJP Government’s Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitely deducted Rs 651 crore from the MCD budget by allocating just Rs 2477 crores to the three MCDs, and the Delhi Government reduced the MCD allocation by a further Rs 62 crores.

Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee said the MCDs were also to be blamed for not making sufficient efforts to generate its own internal revenue from property tax, car parking, hoardings and other sources. In the case of property tax, out of the total of number of households in Delhi, only 25-30 per cent comes under the tax next. No effort to bring more households under the tax net has been made, which would have increased the tax revenue. She said the MCDs have also not done anything to break the stranglehold of the car parking mafia, who are allegedly hand-in-golve with the BJP leaders, and as a result, the exchequer was suffering huge losses. Similarly, the money that should have come to the MCD coffers from hoardings, was now filling up the pockets of private hands as the city was full of illegal hoardings, and it was strange that there was no serious crackdown on illegal hoardings despite the MCDs losing money.

Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee said due to the “deliberate delay” for over a year in coming out with a new toll tax tender, the MCD had suffered a cumulative loss of around Rs 269 crore in one year. She said the previous contract was from May 16, 2011 to May 15, 2014 which had no extension clause, but despite that, the contract was extended on flimsy grounds on the previous rate, which resulted in losses to the MCD coffers. She said a new tender was floated in 2015 after a one-year delay, which netted Rs 269 crore, but by delaying it, the exchequer lost this additional amount.

She said Rs 100 crore could have been generated if the markets and shops handed over by the Land and Development Office under the Directorate of Estates in the Ministry of Urban Development in 2006 to the MCDs, had been regularized. She said while on the one hand the PM was talking of doing business with ease, while lakhs of people were doing business in the Capital without licences. Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee said these people were victims of the licence raj, and if given due licenses, it will not only make their lives easier, but would also generate funds for the exchequer.

Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee said the Delhi Government and the Central Government were opening new windows for confrontations and as a result, the people of Delhi were suffering.