AAP government urges Lieutenant-Governor to intervene

Sisodia asks Jung to direct DDA to release dues to 3 municipal bodies

As the strike called by over 60,000 sanitation workers over the non-payment of their salaries and arrears entered the sixth day, the AAP government on Monday urged lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung to direct the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to release dues running into crores to the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD).

The Delhi Cabinet, chaired by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, which passed a resolution in this regard also slammed the civic bodies for failing to collect taxes properly, thereby forcing the state government to shell out more funds.

“The Delhi government is concerned about the continuous strike of sanitation workers who are making a reasonable demand as they have not received salaries for several months. The DDA owes Rs 353 crore to East municipal corporation. Besides, it also owes Rs 808 crore and Rs 593 crore to North and South municipal corporations, respectively.

“Why aren’t the BJP-led municipal corporations demanding their dues from the DDA In view of this, the Delhi Cabinet today (Monday) passed a resolution requesting the L-G, who is also the chairman of the DDA, to intervene in the matter and get all dues cleared by the DDA immediately,” Mr Sisodia said.

He said being the L-G and the chairman of the DDA, it was Mr Jung’s responsibility to get all dues cleared. “If the MCD doesn’t collect tax properly and asks the government to give funds for its staff’s salaries, how will it be possible for the Delhi government In case, we accept the demand, the government will have to cut salaries of its teachers, doctors who will be in trouble then,” he said.

Mr Sisodia claimed that the AAP government has released more non-revenue (salaries) fund to all the three civic bodies — NDMC, EDMC and SDMC — as compared to the past three years. “In 2012-13, the then Sheila Dikshit government had given Rs 269 crore to EDMC, followed by Rs 288 crore in 2013-14. During President’s Rule, when Delhi was under the BJP-led Centre, Rs 366 crore was released to the East civic body. But the AAP government gave Rs 466 crore during 2015-16,” he said.

Mr Sisodia added that similarly, the city government had given NDMC Rs 526 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 559 crore in 2013-14 and in 2014-15, Rs 545 crore was released to the corporation, but in the current financial year, the Delhi government has released Rs 893 crore.

Earlier in the day, sanitation workers staged protests across the city as their strike entered the sixth day even as thousands of teachers of MCD schools, too, refused to report for duty.

The teachers, who had earlier announced a ‘chalk-down’ strike, on Monday decided to go on a complete strike. The strike by nearly 12,000 teachers of about 1,100 NDMC and EDMC schools will affect around 7 lakh students, a senior municipal official said.