Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled-municipal Corporations of “looting” the taxpayer’s money, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said the BJP has converted the civic bodies into a hub of corruption.
The AAP leader said despite the potential to collect Rs 2,100 crore as property tax from 12 lakh properties every year, the north Corporation shows Rs 700 crore as tax collection in its records and the remaining Rs 1,400 crore are pocketed by the BJP leaders.
On behalf of the AAP, Pathak demanded a thorough investigation into the matter and criminal charges against the BJP leaders for looting the tax money of the people of Delhi.
Pathak also slammed the BJP leaders for involving in corruption at a time when this money should be used for paying salaries to the doctors, nurses, sanitation workers, teachers, and giving pensions to the 24,000 pensioners of the Corporations.
“Since the last 14 years, BJP has made the MCD the hub of corruption. The situation is that the doctors, workers, nurses and teachers have not received their salaries. The MCD workers are on a strike since yesterday. The condition of the MCD is such that today they do not even have funds to pay salaries to their employees,” he said.
Along with the officials, the BJP leaders have converted the MCD into a medium of looting money. “The BJP-ruled MCD collects the property taxes in Delhi. In the last few years, the North MCD marked around 12 lakh people who were to pay the property tax,” he said.
“These 12 lakh people were also issued a University Property Identification Code. If this tax money was collected from these 12 lakh people and submitted in the treasury of the North MCD without corruption, it would amount to Rs 2,100 crore every year. But the BJP shows the property tax of only 4 lakh people in the treasury, which shows that they have collected somewhere around Rs 700 crore,” he said.
“They have removed eight lakh people from the records. They show their collection to be at Rs 700 crore, and the remaining Rs 1,400 crore is distributed amongst the BJP leaders,” he said.