The three civic agencies in the national Capital will face another fund crunch this year because of the Union Budget 2016-17 that has not earmarked any funds to local Bodies in Delhi. The city Government had requested for allocation of at least Rs1000 crore as basic and performance grants to local Bodies in Delhi.
“In the Budget, the Central Government has not earmarked any funds to local Bodies in Delhi although we had requested for allocation of at least Rs1000 crore as basic and performance grants to local Bodies in Delhi. We are providing 10.5 per cent of our annual tax collection to the local Bodies, however, the local Bodies in Delhi are not getting any non-plan support from the Government of India,” the Delhi Government said.
According to the data provided by the MCD, the internal revenue of three corporations is Rs5,975 crore. The combined salary expenditure is nearly Rs6,240 crore, which includes salary of employees, arrears and medical allowances. Moreover, there is an extra burden of Rs2,000 crore with the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.
The North MCD’s salary expenditure is Rs2,640crore as against its internal revenue which is only Rs2,375 crore, leaving a gap of Rs265 crore. The East MCD’s condition is more or less the same with a gap of Rs95 crore between their salary expenditure and revenue. The condition of the South MCD is marginally better as the civic body has estimated earnings of Rs2,755 crore against salary expenditure of Rs2,640.
North MCD Mayor Ravinder Gupta, however, said, “The money has to be released by the Delhi Government and not the Centre, as per the directives of the Constitution. The Delhi Government is not even giving the mandatory funds. They are only politicising the whole issue.”
According to the Delhi Government, they are providing 10.5 per cent of annual tax collection to the local Bodies and are not getting any non-plan support from the Central Government.
“As per the Constitution, the Centre does not give funds to the local bodies. If it was so, then they would have to announce Budget allocation for municipal bodies of all other States. The Delhi Government itself has failed to generate revenue through Central Road Funds and Urban Health Mission. They are only politicising the issue and passing the buck to Centre,” said South MCD leader of the House Ashish Sood.
A month ago, the deadlock between the Kejriwal Government and the civic agencies over disbursement of funds had brought the civic services to a grinding halt. With nearly 1.5 lakh employees including 57,000 disgruntled sanitation workers on strike demanding due payment of their salaries and arrears, Delhi was faced deep crisis. The employees have sought payment of due salaries in the first week of every month, release of arrears for those whose services were regularised in 2003 and 2004, regularisation of contractual workers, issuance of medical cards and the payment of their child education allowance. While the demands have not been complied with, the sanitation workers are battling grave financial crisis.
Referring to the Delhi Government, East MCD Standing Committee Chairperson lata Gupta said, “This shows the Delhi Government’s incompetence to handle things. It is their political plank to divert things towards the Centre when they are themselves incapable of handling a situation. MCD’s financial health depends directly on the Delhi Government.”