Amid the ongoing strike of sanitation workers in the national capital, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday directed chief secretary K.K. Sharma to immediately convene a joint meeting of the Delhi Development Authority and commissioners of the three municipal corporations after the DDA in a letter to the Delhi Government admitted that it owes service charges to MCDs, the amount of which can be “mutually worked out.” The development ensued hours after being pressured by the safai karmcharis and tussle over funds with municipal corporations, Mr Kejriwal had blamed the DDA for the ongoing garbage crisis in the city. In a full-page advertisement published in leading dailies, the chief minister said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has no role in the in the ongoing strike by municipal workers as they are not under his administrative purview.
“It is people’s misunderstanding that municipal corporation comes under Delhi government. This is utterly wrong,” the advertisement reads.
“Delhi government has to give municipal bodies a certain sum of money. That sum is pre-decided by law. It is being wrongly said that Delhi government has not given that money. We have paid more than last year. Last year, we had paid Rs 1,859 crore. This year, we have paid Rs 2,370 crore, which is Rs 511 crore more,” it claimed. The sanitation workers in the national capital went on an indefinite strike last Friday, demanding timely payment of their salaries and regular employment for those who have been working on contract for over a decade.
The chief minister, through the advertisement, also asked the DDA to pay their property tax dues to the corporations.
“The DDA has to pay nearly Rs 1,500 crore property tax to the corporations. The DDA and corporations are under the purview of the Central government. We request that arrangements should be made asking DDA to pay their dues,” it further reads.
Hitting back at Mr Kejriwal, the DDA in a statement earlier in the day said that it’s lands were that of the Union government and it was not obliged to pay property tax for such properties in the national capital.
The DDA clarified that in respect of properties (permanent office buildings, staff quarters and rented properties) where property tax was due to the corporations, it has been paying such tax regularly.
