No funds marked for civic bodies: Delhi govt on Union Budget

New Delhi: The Centre has "not earmarked any funds for civic bodies" in the national capital despite requesting an allocation of Rs 4,087 crore as per the recommendations of the 14th Central Finance Commission, Delhi government said on Wednesday.

The AAP-led city government and the BJP-ruled corporations have been at each other for last several months over the allocation of municipal funds.

The Arvind Kejriwal government has said that it has released "adequate funds" to the three corporations -- North, South and East, and asked them to seek more funds from the NDA government, based on recommendations of the 14th Central Finance Commission.

However, the government claimed that it has found no relief in the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s budget for the year 2017-18 which was presented on Wednesday.

In the Union budget, the government has "not earmarked any funds to local bodies, although we had requested for allocation of Rs 4,087 crore as local bodies grant... derived by 14th Central Finance Commission for its award period of 2015-20," Delhi government said in a statement.

"Centre is providing basic and performance grants to local bodies in all states. However, local bodies in Delhi are not getting any support from the government of India although we (Delhi government) are providing 10.5 per cent of our annual tax collection to the local bodies," it said.

Of the three corporations, barring SDMC, both NDMC and EDMC are cash-strapped. Municipal elections are due this year and issue of funds is likely to become a poll plank.