Delhi Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Wednesday said several projects of the Delhi Jal Board are stuck in a limbo due to a paucity of funds with officers obstructing money to the department.
During a discussion on the shortage of funds with the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the minister accused Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena of knowing about the issue and not doing anything about it.
Following his speech, Delhi Assembly Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla referred the matter of DJB's fund shortage to the Petitions Committee and directed the committee to submit its report in a month. AAP and BJP MLAs indulged in a war of words over DJB projects. While AAP MLAs said that officers were not releasing funds which was hampering projects in their constituencies, BJP MLAs said that the AAP dispensation had grown a habit of blaming others for "its inefficiencies".
Replying to the discussion, Bharadwaj said, "During the coronavirus pandemic, metre readers did not go and bills were not generated. In some cases, where bills were generated, they were not paid. But this time, the DJB was functioning and salaries were being paid. The recurring expenses were paid using capital money. This amounted to Rs 1,500 crore."
Earlier, participating in the debate, the Leader of the Opposition and senior BJP leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, made several serious allegations and demanded a CBI probe into the operation of the DJB. Bidhuri questioned how the Jal Board, which was making a profit of 500 crore rupees in 2014, has now incurred a loss of Rs 72,000 crore. "Why hasn't a CAG audit of the Delhi Jal Board's accounts been conducted since 2016? How did a scam involving crores of rupees in water bills occur? Why hasn't the Jal Board been able to provide additional water and account for the 8500 crore rupees provided by the central government for the cleaning of the Yamuna River? Bidhuri questioned while demanding a CBI investigation into the operations of the Jal Board.
The minister said that an official from the Finance Department questioned where the Rs 1,500 crore was spent.
"They questioned us on how we could spend capital money on revenue. We requested them for Rs 2,000 crore but they kept sending back files. They said they will give Rs 500 crore since Rs 1,500 crore is already there in your account," the minister said. Bharadwaj told the assembly that in the last six months no new projects have been started since they don't have funds.
"One sends files to the Finance Department, which raises objections and sends the file back. This is happening because the Delhi government has no control over Services. The officers have been directed from above to not work. But those officers are accountable and something needs to be done about this," he said.
