Centre Needs to Grant Rs 12,000 crores For 10 years to MCD: Delhi CM Kejriwal

New Delhi: A day after the three mayors of the BJP-led municipal corporations sat on a protest over non-payment of funds, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday slammed the government at Centre for granting fund to all the municipal corporations in the country, except Delhi.

Speaking at an event, the chief minister questioned why there was so much scarcity in the municipal corporations of the region to pay salaries of employees. He said, “Some of Municipal doctors are sitting on strike, they’ve not been paid for months. This is a matter of shame for all of us. There should be no politics on this matter. Why is there so much scarcity in Municipal Corporation to pay salaries of employees?”

Stating that the Centre needs to grant Rs 12,000 crores fund for 10 years to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD), CM Kejriwal said, “Central government is giving a grant to all the municipal corporations in the country, except Delhi. Centre needs to give Rs 12,000 crores for 10 years to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. I request my brothers in the municipal corporations to run it properly.”

Earlier on Monday, mayors of the three municipal corporations had demanded Rs 13,000 crore in total was due to the three corporations from the Delhi government. North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash even requested CM Kejriwal to meet them and explain the disbursal procedure for the due amount of Rs 13,000 crores.

Hundreds of doctors, nurses, sanitation workers, teachers and other employees run by the civic body have not been paid in three months and have been protesting for the past two weeks.

While the civic body have alleged that they were not able to pay salaries because the Delhi government owed them money, the government on the other hand has denied the charges, saying they were the ones owed money and that they had cleared all dues.

After a meeting between Health Minister Satyendar Jain and the mayors on late Monday late evening, Jain said, “I have told the mayors that the Centre owes them Rs 12,000 crore, which it has not given to local bodies in Delhi for 10 years. The MCDs also owe Rs 6,000 crore to the Delhi government… If they say we owe them some funds, we are ready to pay that… Shortage of funds in the MCDs is due to corruption but they say there is no corruption…”