The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded that the Delhi government should release the funds for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in view of the fourth Finance Commission report.
Leader of Opposition and former Mayor of the NDMC Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh pointed out that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj and the MCD mayor are demanding about Rs 5,000 crore funds from the Central government while the Delhi government owes Rs 15,000 crore to the MCD as per the Fourth Finance Commission.
He said the minister should first get the dues of Rs 15,000 crore from the Delhi government so that MCD could carry with its development work.
Criticising the mayor, he said she talks of getting the drainage system repaired from the mayor’s fund even though the corporation has no dearth of money. If not, why then she should not ask for the corporation’s outstanding due from the Delhi government?
He lamented that in the 10 years of the AAP rule in Delhi, the fourth and fifth Delhi Finance Commission has not been implemented, due to which the MCD is facing financial crunch.
Furthermore, Iqbal criticised the government on the pending funds, pointing out that the Delhi government said that the total budget of Delhi is Rs 80,000 crore. Despite having its government in the MCD, the AAP is not releasing the outstanding funds of the corporation, due to which all the development work has been stalled for two years.
He requested the Delhi minister to release the pending amount of Rs 15,000 crore to the MCD as per the recommendations of the fourth and fifth Delhi Finance Commission and approve the formation of the sixth Delhi Finance Commission.
He claimed almost all development works in Delhi are done by the Central government, be it hospitals run by the Central government, highways originating from Delhi, construction work done by the DDA, and even the electric buses running in Delhi, which are under the Central government’s FAME scheme.