The Arvind Kejriwal Government is not willing to release funds to the three municipal bodies that are facing severe financial crisis. It is learnt that the Delhi Government has surplus budget of over Rs1,700 crore to Rs1,800 crore in the ‘non-Plan head’ in the current fiscal ending on March 31. Despite having surplus funds, the Kejriwal Government is acting miserly. The AAP Government could have used the sum to bail out the three cash-strapped corporations.

The corporations have not released salary to its safai karamcharis and other employees for the past three months. The safai karamcharis of MCD have taken the issue to the roads seeking release of their salaries. They even dumped the garbage on major roads and intersections in trans-Yamuna, which led to massive traffic jams in the region. The Kejriwal Government’s action is politically motivated with an aim to disrupt Narendra Modi’s Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan to make the Capital a clean city.

On the other hand, the AAP Government says it has already released funds to the MCDs that were available to the Government. The amount of Rs600 crore was withheld because Centre has not released that fund till date. It is noted that North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) has sought Rs800 crore, while East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has sought Rs450 crore from the State Government. It is noted that funds granted to MCD by the Delhi Government falls under both Plan and non-Plan head. Directorate of local Bodies controls the three MCDs after the trifurcation. The funds of non-Plan head go to pay salaries of employees and other contingency purposes. Funds of non-Plan head, if unspent, cannot be used in the next financial year. The said amount will go to the State Government coffers.

Insiders say that the tussle between the AAP Government and the MCD seems to be politically motivated. “The Arvind Kejriwal Government could release funds from its non-Plan head, to MCD to bail them out from financial crisis. But it did not. It has sufficient funds under non-Plan head account. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has not paid salaries to its employees for the past three months. The safai karamcharis are on road and dumping garbage on the major roads to stall traffic to highlight their demands. The common man is suffering due to tussle between AAP Government, MCD and Centre,” said insiders.

The camp followers of Kejriwal blamed the MCD that they are dumping garbage on the road to malign the image of the Kejriwal Government. “Why they don’t dump garbage in New Delhi areas or lutyens’ ZoneIJ” they asked. According to insiders, the AAP Government was also planning to audit the functioning/working of the three MCDs. In the year 2012-2013, the erstwhile Congress Government in Delhi had allocated Rs3,128 crore to the MCDs, but in the 2014-2015 Budget, the BJP-led Central Government deducted Rs651 crore from the MCD funds and allocated only Rs2,477 crore to the three MCDs. Strangely, the AAP-led Delhi Government also reduced the allocation for the MCDs in its vote-on-account passed recently by Rs62 crore, limiting it to Rs2,415 crore, which has resulted in the present impasse in the MCD.