“On the first day of the financial year, we did what we can do. The Centre should also release its share of civic bodies’ fund, which is pending for a long time,” said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
He said the Delhi government would also issue directions to civic bodies to release the salary of sanitation workers.
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The funds were transferred after a delegation of sanitation workers of all three municipal corporations met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday.
BJP legislator Vijender Gupta, who had raised the issue of the civic crisis in the Delhi Assembly and the refusal of the Delhi government to bail them out, told Business Standard, “Even in the past, we’ve had issues with then Congress CM Sheila Dikshit. She had, however, never let these administrative wrangling become a political fight. The new AAP government believes it can muzzle out the corporations, but we’ll not allow that to happen.”
He said it was for the CM and his government to iron out relations with the civic bodies amicably.
While Delhi government’s decision to transfer funds would help alleviate the present crisis — non-payment of salaries to civic bodies’ staff — to some extent, AAP’s charges of “inefficiency and unprofessionalism” in running the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) continue to fester.
Sisodia had said on Tuesday the government would approach Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on the issue. According to sources, the AAP government is still seeking legal opinion.
Under Section 490 of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957: “If, in the opinion of the Central government, the corporation persistently makes default in the performance of the duties imposed on it by or under this Act or exceeds or abuses its powers, the Central government may by an order published, together with a statement of reasons therefore, in the Official Gazette, dissolve the corporation.”
So, the Delhi government can approach the Centre through the lieutenant governor making out grounds for why the EDMC should be dissolved. The AAP-led government believes the corporation has become financially unviable recommending its administrative takeover.
However, whether the BJP-led Centre will accede to such a request to dissolve BJP-controlled EDMC — an elected body — is questionable.
B B Tyagi, standing committee chairman of EDMC, dismissed the statements as “lies and hollow threats”. “Instead of simply resorting to loud bluster, they should help us with funds to run the corporation,” he said.