A day after Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia wrote to him about the delay in paying anganwadi workers, Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday said the reason for pending payments was the lack of funds, which, as Finance Minister, was a matter for introspection for Mr. Sisodia.
Mr. Sisodia had on Wednesday written to Mr. Baijal informing him that the honorarium given to workers and helpers of anganwadi centres and rent for the premises hired for the centres had not been paid in three months. Mr. Sisodia had said that the officers had not been sensitive towards the matter, leading to 30,000 people — 10,000 workers, helpers and property owners — not getting their dues.
In a statement on Thursday, Raj Niwas said that Mr. Baijal had replied to the Deputy Chief Minister’s letter, which was the “first time” that he had brought the issue to the L-G’s notice.
After receiving Mr. Sisodia’s letter, Mr. Baijal had asked the Department of Women and Child Development for a report, which said that rent for anganwadi premises had been paid up to date (till January 2018) and there were enough funds in the Budget for this.
“As such, it may not be correct to say that the payment of rent has been pending for three months. Still, if any specific case(s) of unpaid dues are in the notice of Hon’ble Dy. CM, he may take up with the department,” the statement read.
On the matter of payment of honorarium to anganwadi workers and helpers, Mr. Baijal was told by the department that workers and helpers had been paid up to November and December 2017 respectively. The L-G wrote to Mr. Sisodia that the Department said the remaining payments were pending as funds had been exhausted.
“The L-G noted that being both the Finance Minister incharge of Budget preparation and Minister heading the Department of Women and Child Development, Hon’ble Dy. CM would like to introspect why the Budget could not be planned in a more meticulous manner and provision for the additional requirement not made timely.”
The L-G asked Mr. Sisodia to take steps to ensure that the funds needed to make the payments on time were given. He added that he wished Mr. Sisodia “had checked the facts with the Department and taken timely action for provision of funds as Finance Minister before writing to him”.
