Blame it on its financial goof-up or trifurcation, the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi cannot afford to pay its employees anymore. Ahead of 2017 municipal elections, the three civic bodies are staring at a bleak future as it does not have enough money to pay its employees.
A look into each of three corporations individually shows North Delhi Municipal Coprporation’s salary expenditure is Rs2,640 crore as against its internal revenue which is only Rs2,375 crore, leaving a gap of Rs265 crore. East Delhi Municipal Corporation’s condition is more or less the same with a gap of Rs95 crore between their salary expenditure and revenue. The condition of South Delhi Municipal Corporation is marginally better as the civic body has estimated earnings of Rs2,755 crore against salary expenditure of Rs2, 640 crore.
According to the data provided by the Municipal Corporations, 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.
Not just that, the three agencies have expenses of Rs2,476 crore on education, Rs2,628 crore on sanitation and Rs1,252 crore on health and or Rs6,356 crore in total for three overheads. The total Budget estimate of the Municipal Corporations is around Rs14,300 crore. Of the total, Rs6,240 crore (nearly 50 per cent of the total budget) goes into paying salaries and the rest is expected to be spent on sanitation, education and health sectors.
“The revenue collection against its estimates has been decreasing by the year. In 2012-13, the corporation collected Rs2,924 which is Rs547 crore more than this year’s collection of Rs2,376 crore as internal revenue. We have never seen this state of affairs in Municipal Corporations before. We didn’t have to face this during previous Government and President Rule. The deficit is going higher and higher, we have not received a certain amount from the Delhi Government in the form of Municipal Reform Funds as we could not achieve the fiscal target. As per the rule, Municipal Reform Funds (MRF) is given only if the corporation is in a financially better condition” said Mukesh Goel, leader of Opposition in North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The revenue collection by way of house tax, parking fees, advertisement, conversion charges, building plan sanction, etc do not come in regularly leading to delay in payment of salaries and other expenses. This is the situation when around 40 per cent posts are vacant and a majority of the employees are contractual workers who are paid less than their permanent counterparts. The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that the corporations are not able to continue their primary responsibilities like sanitation, health and primary education.
“Until and unless the corporation is unified in the most systematic way, we cannot ensure proper delivery of services. The MCDs have gone horribly wrong in managing their financial accounts,” said an official.
Moreover, senior officials in North Delhi Municipal Corporation said not a single penny has been spent out of discretionary fund by senior functionaries like the Mayor, Chairman of Standing Committee and Chairman of different special committees like education, sanitation and garden.