 "L-G should probe corruption in MCD when it was under BJP: Saurabh Bharadwaj")
Delhi Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday demanded that the lieutenant governor conduct a high-level inquiry into alleged corruption in the MCD while it was under the BJP's control.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) earned a revenue of about Rs 8,900 crore in the financial year 2022-23, a rise of more than 22 per cent compared to the earnings in the year before, according to officials.
The three erstwhile civic bodies of Delhi were unified into the MCD in May 2022.
The "perennially cash-strapped" MCD has registered record revenue receipts in 2022-23, witnessing a jump of 22.77 per cent over the year (FY 2021-22) prior to it, when the figure was Rs 7,249.25 crore, a senior official of the Raj Niwas said.
Following the release of these figures, Bharadwaj said LG V K Saxena's comments have raised questions on the 15-year tenure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the MCD.
He expressed concerns about the LG's statement over the MCD's revenue growth over the last year.
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"The LG's statement about the MCD's earnings increasing from Rs 7,249 crore to Rs 8,900 crore in 2022-23, indicating a revenue growth of about Rs 1,650 crore, raises some questions. We hope he will answer these questions," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said.
The questions raised by the LG were -- were the old officers of the MCD replaced with new ones in 2022-23, were the old officers of the property tax department replaced with new officers in 2022-23, was the MCD commissioner replaced with a new commissioner in 2022-23 and were all the MCD employees replaced with new employees in 2022-23, Bharadwaj said.
Noting that the MCD was under the BJP's control from 2007 to 2022, he said over the last one year, the civic body was run in accordance with rules and regulations and managed by officers and hence, the BJP government at the Centre was not able to interfere in its functioning.
"As such, when the LG claims that he has put an end to the revenue leakages within the municipal corporation, leading to a significant increase in revenue, it implies that the LG also acknowledges that the revenue of the municipal corporation was looted for the last 15 years under the BJP," the AAP leader added.
He demanded that the LG conduct an investigation into the "loot" that he claimed had stopped in the MCD after 15 years.
"The LG has a habit of conducting an investigation for trivial matters, so I request that since he has claimed that the revenue loot of the MCD was stopped over the last year, he should conduct an investigation as to who was looting the MCD for the last 15 years," Bharadwaj added.
He further said since the LG "himself has acknowledged that a revenue loot was taking place in the MCD for years, he should constitute a high-level committee to investigate and reveal to the people of Delhi who were involved in looting their tax money for the last 15 years".
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