Having realised that holding back grant-in-aid to BJP-controlled municipal corporations was working against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as those affected by it are its vote bank, the Delhi Government on Wednesday said it has decided to release funds to municipal bodies so that they could pay the salaries of their employees. Funds to cash-strapped North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) may be released by next Monday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Wednesday.
Sources said the Delhi Government was concerned after NMC sanitation workers dumped garbage in posh colonies of North Delhi leading to angry protests. The Government was also worried as its rigid attitude towards the municipal corporations in releasing funds was being viewed as anti-poor since the ones affected by it are sanitation workers, who rooted for AAP during the Assembly elections. In fact, sanitation workers are now considered AAP voters in the national Capital after the Congress party was reduced to zero.
Due to non-payment of salaries, sanitation workers had staged a series of protests across the national Capital that included dumping truckloads of garbage on the roads and streets, which led to traffic chaos. A delegation of sanitation workers also met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia at Players’ Building on Wednesday afternoon. After the meeting, Sisodia announced that the Delhi Government is going to release funds to MCDs so that they could pay salaries to their staff.
“We have directed our officials to release the fund share of civic agencies. We are also issuing directions to officials of civic bodies to release salaries of sanitation workers once they get funds from the Government,” Sisodia said.
It would be pertinent to mention that Delhi Government is duty-bound to release funds to three MCDs after every quarter. This fund is allocated in the current fiscal year’s Budget 2015-16. While this is a routine release of funds, it is being termed as a special package to sanitation workers to bail them out.
The AAP leader also raised doubts over utilisation of funds allocated by the Centre to the MCD. “Where did the funds allocated by the Centre go, if MCD workers haven’t received their salaries from three monthsIJ” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
“On the first day of the financial year, we did what we could do. The Centre should also release its share of civic bodies’ fund, which is pending for a long time,” he said. It may be noted that the Delhi Government refused to bail out the municipal corporations when they sought funds from it despite having Rs 1,800 crore in its non-plan head in the fiscal year ended on March 31.
“The fund is being release to MCDs in the current financial year, that is routine work, but it is being termed as a special package to the corporations. MCDs get funds through Delhi Government after every quarter. There is nothing special or new in the package to MCDs,” said a senior official of the Urban Development department.
The Arvind Kejriwal Government faced all-round criticism for not releasing funds to MCDs. According to political experts, when the AAP Government realised that its public image was being dented, it agreed to release the funds.
“What was the need for the whole drama,” said Ramesh Bidhuri. Sisodia also stated that the Delhi Government will direct the corporations to ensure immediate payment of outstanding salaries to the sanitation workers and it should also be ensured that they get their salaries at the beginning of every month and not towards the end.
The Delhi Government has also decided to start a cashless medical scheme for sanitation workers. “Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will soon write to all three commissioners of municipal corporations to start a cashless medical scheme so that sanitation workers don’t have to face a problem while getting medical treatment in hospitals,” Sisodia said.
In their meeting, the sanitation workers told the CM that they had not been paid full salaries for the months of February and March. They also told the CM that they wanted cashless medical cards since their working conditions lead to health hazards.