‘AAP did not spend labour welfare fund’

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had reduced budgetary allocation for labour welfare efforts and also failed to use the amount in the last financial year, the Congress alleged on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference on the occasion of Labour Day, Delhi Congress chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee said that it was shocking that the AAP government had “not spent a single rupee” from the allocation for labour welfare.

She also stated that Delhi government’s Statistical Handbook had shown a fall in the number of registered factory workers from 2014 to 2016.

Since the AAP government came to power in 2015, no new registration process for workers has been carried out, Ms. Mukherjee added.

She added that the AAP government had not only reduced allocations for labour welfare schemes introduced by the Congress, but also failed to utilise the funds.

The Congress’ pension scheme for unorganised sector workers, Dilli Swavalamben Yojna, was launched in 2013 with 5,691 beneficiaries enrolled, she said, adding that in 2015-2016, the number of people enrolled was 9,854. The AAP government, she said, reduced the allocation for this scheme from ₹160 crore in 2017-2018 to ₹60 crore this year.

As of February 2018, not a single rupee was used, Ms. Mukherjee alleged.

Similarly, the grant in aid to the Delhi Labour Welfare Board was reduced from ₹20 crore to ₹10 crore over the years, and no money was spent, she said.

‘Not single rupee spent’

She added that the total expenditure for the Labour Department was reduced from ₹294 crore to ₹136 crore and not a single rupee of this had been spent.