AAP govt urges LG to direct DDA to clear dues to MCD

New Delhi: The AAP government on Monday urged Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to direct Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to release dues running into crores to the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) as the strike by over 60,000 sanitation workers entered the sixth day.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who chaired a meeting of the state cabinet that passed a resolution in this regard, also slammed the civic bodies for failing to collect taxes properly, thereby forcing the state government to shell out more funds.

"The Delhi Government is concerned about the continuous strike of sanitation workers who are making a reasonable demand as they have not received salaries for several months. DDA owes 353 crore to East MCD. Besides, it also owes Rs 808 crore and Rs 593 crore to North and South municipal corporations respectively. "Why aren't the BJP-led municipal corporations demanding their dues from the DDA? In view of this, the Delhi Cabinet today passed a resolution requesting the Lt Governor, who is also the chairman of the DDA, to intervene in the matter and get all dues cleared by the DDA immediately," Sisodia told a press conference here.

He said being the LG and the chairman of DDA, it was Jung's responsibility to get all dues cleared. If MCD doesn't collect tax properly and asks the government to give funds for its staff's salaries, how will it be possible for the Delhi government? In case, we accept the demand, government will have to cut salaries of its teachers, doctors who will be in trouble then, he said.

Sisodia claimed that the AAP government has released more non-revenue (salaries) fund to all the three civic bodies - NDMC, EDMC and SDMC - as compared to the past three years. "In 2012-13, the then Sheila Dikshit government had given Rs 269 crore to EDMC, followed by Rs 288 crore in 2013-14. During the President's Rule when Delhi was under the BJP-led Centre, Rs 366 crore was released to the East MCD. But, the AAP government gave Rs 466 crore during 2015-16," he said.

Sisodia added that similarly, the city government had given NDMC Rs 526 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 559 crore in 2013-14 and in 2014-15, Rs 545 crore was released to the corporation, but in the current financial year, the Delhi government has released Rs 893 crore.

Earlier in the day, sanitation workers staged protests across the city as their strike entered the sixth day even as thousands of teachers of MCD schools, too, refused to report for duty. The teachers, who had earlier announced a 'chalk-down' strike, today decided to go on a complete strike.

The strike by nearly 12,000 teachers of about 1,100 NDMC and EDMC schools will affect around 7 lakh students, a senior municipal official said.