Civic House nod to hike councillor allowance Rs 25K/ meeting; BJP condemns

The AAP-led municipal House on Thursday passed a slew of proposals including raising the size of a councillor's allowance from Rs 300 to Rs 25,000 per meeting, a move that drew criticism from the opposition BJP whose members boycotted the session.

The House also cleared a proposal to constitute a new managing committee for the over 160-year-old Hardayal Municipal Public Library, and begin door-step delivery of 23 services that will include issuing of birth and death certificates and renewal of factory licence.

While opposition BJP members did not attend the meet, some of the Congress councillors raised civic issues on sanitation, parking, and other problems faced by residents in their wards, at time leading to heated exchanges among them and a few AAP councillors.

The Delhi BJP had on August 29 announced if the House was held on the day of Raksha Bandhan then its members will not attend it, saying it would tantamount to "harassment" of municipal employees.

The House began on a sedate note with many councillors from the AAP and Congress putting forth issues from their wards relating to shortage of auto-tippers for collecting garbage, poor upkeep of park, uncovered drains, and domestic breeding checking (DBC) workers not being provided proper identity cards.

After about two hours of proceedings, the agenda was taken up and all ten items on agenda except one was passed by the House.

One item on the agenda related to toll tax was "referred back" for reconsideration.

Mayor Shelly Oberoi later interacting with reporters said as per the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, councillors were not entitled to a salary, but they do get a meeting allowance.

"And, the current meeting allowance for a councillor is Rs 300 per meeting. There are other requirements and hence the House today approved the proposal to hike this amount to Rs 25,000," she said.

The proposal will now go to the Centre for its approval and then to the Delhi Lt Governor, she added.

Officials said each councillor gets an allowance for four meetings in a month, and thus if Rs 25,000 amount get approved, the maximum cap on it will be Rs 1 lakh a month.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva in a statement condemned the resolution.

Leader of Opposition in the House Raja Iqbal Singh alleged that it was "black day" in the history of the MCD.

"Delhiites are shocked to see the Aam Aadmi Party seeking over 80 times increase in allowance for its councillors. It is shocking that once in power, at any level, AAP's first effort is to give a financial boon to its members," Sachdeva alleged.

The Aam Aadmi Party had won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections held in December, wresting power from the BJP and ending its 15-year-rule in the civic body.

It won 134 seats, while the BJP had finished second with 104 seats, and the Congress was reduced to a meagre nine in the 250-member municipal corporation.

Speaking in the house, Congress councillor Naziya Danish objected to its being held on the day of Raksha Bandhan. Leader of House Mukesh Goyal countered the argument saying a government holiday for the occasion was already observed on August 30.

Oberoi in the house said "we celebrate our festivals, but we also know our duties" and took a jibe at the BJP saying, "people cannot run away from their responsibilities in the name of a festival."

During the press conference, the mayor said soon after the new committee is formed, steps will be taken to resolve the issue of pending salaries of employees of the library.

The library was set up in 1862 as part of a reading club for the British. The heritage library in Delhi's Chandni Chowk area was christened as Hardinge Library in 1916 and boasts a rich collection of books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit.