The cash-strapped municipal corporations on Saturday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for financial assistance, and they were told to approach the Centre as the Delhi Government had no money to spare.
Mr. Kejriwal informed the Mayors that the Capital had racked up a Rs.4,000 crore revenue deficit in the past one year, while Delhi was indirectly being run by the BJP Government at the Centre through the President’s Rule.
The North and East Delhi municipalities have been undergoing a financial crisis for many months now, being unable to pay employees or carry out development projects on time. With that backdrop, the Mayors of the three BJP-led civic bodies asked the Chief Minister to release what they called their “rightful share” of Delhi’s taxes.
“The Chief Minister further told the Mayors that although the Delhi Government wants to help them, the financial situation is such that it is unable to do so,” said a statement from the Delhi Government.
Mr. Kejriwal suggested to the Mayors that they approach their party’s government at the Centre for a resolution. Sources said that the Delhi Government wants the Capital’s share of taxes revised as it finds the current arrangement inadequate.
Yogender Chandolia, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor, said Mr. Kejriwal encouraged the civic bodies’ leaders to ask Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for help.
“We will be meeting Mr. Jaitley soon, but it is the responsibility of the Delhi Government to ask for a greater share of taxes for Delhi, not ours,” said Mr. Chandolia.
He said the Delhi Government had been adjusting the corporations’ share of taxes against loan repayments, which meant that external aid had reduced greatly.
“We asked the Chief Minister to not adjust our global share of Rs.302 crore against the loan till property tax is collected next financial year. But, he has not given any assurances,” said Mr. Chandolia.
South Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Khushi Ram added that the Delhi Government was passing the buck to the Centre. “The previous Congress Government has left Delhi in this stage. There were no policy decisions taken by the BJP-led Centre during the President’s Rule,” he said.
The Mayors also asked Mr. Kejriwal to table the report of the fourth Delhi Finance Commission in the Delhi Assembly. The Commission was set up to look into the finances of the civic bodies and suggest revisions in the funds allocated to them. The report has been pending since April 5, 2013, but neither the then-Congress Government nor the Aam Aadmi Party Government now has tabled it.
The Mayors of the three BJP-led civic bodies asked the Chief Minister to release what they called their “rightful share” of Delhi’s taxes
