Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, launching an all-out attack on the BJP-run Municipal Corporations here on Tuesday stating that the protest by doctors due to non-payment of their salaries by the MCDs was “shameful.”
A day after the Mayors of the three MCDs staged a protest demanding dues to the tune of Rs. 13,000 crores outside his residence, Mr. Kejriwal said that the Central government should grant funds to the MCDs so that the salaries of the doctors and other unpaid staff can be released.
According to Delhi government sources, an amount of Rs. 1965.91 crores was due to the MCDs between April 1 and October 26 of which Rs. 1752.61 crores had already been paid and the remainder had already been disbursed and was in the process of being credited to the civic bodies as per Urban Development department records.
"The MCD doctors are on strike due to non-payment of salaries for many months now. This is utterly shameful. The doctors who risked their lives to protect, treat, and serve us and our families, this is not right. This is a very sensitive matter, and there should be no politics on the issue,” he said.
“The MCD owes us Rs. 3800 crores which were given in the form of loans by the Delhi government. They also owe Rs. 3000 crores as bills to the Delhi Jal Board. The Central government gives grants to all municipal corporations across the country, based on Rs 485 per person. However, the central government is not paying grants to the three MCDs for the last few years,” he also said.
According to Mr. Kejriwal, since the population of Delhi is 2.25 crore the per year calculation comes to Rs. 1100-1200 crores according to Rs. 485 per person which amounts to Rs 12000 crores for 10 years. The Central government, he said, should be giving Rs. 12,000 crores to the MCDs; how else will they function, he asked.
The budget for the MCD, he said, was Rs. 12,000 crores of which the budget for salaries is Rs. 6000 crores. If the MCDs get these funds, why can't they pay salaries to their staff, he demanded. Currently, he said, the Delhi government was also suffering from an economic loss because of the Coronavirus pandemic and no tax collection. He said,
“But still, we are managing the situation. We have not stopped the salaries of our workers until now and paying salaries to all our officials, teachers, doctors, workers on time,” he said.
“I want to appeal to the Central government, the doctors are suffering because they have not gotten salaries for many months now. At a time of Corona, when we should be rewarding them with medals for being on Corona duties, they are not getting their salaries,” he also said.