To seek direct transfer of fund from Centre to MCD: Delhi BJP head

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta has said if the party retains power in the MCD poll, it will demand direct transfer of funds from the Centre to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi through the LG, rather than via the city government.

In an interview to PTI in run-up to the December 4 MCD polls, Gupta also asserted the the BJP will beat anti-incumbency and win more seats than it did in the 2017 elections.

"It's not possible to make everyone happy. The BJP ruled the municipal corporations for 15 years and tried to work in the larger interest," Gupta said in reply to a question on anti-incumbency and charges of corruption being levelled against its leaders by their rivals in the AAP, which rules the city government and the Congress.

 

The BJP has been ruling the municipal corporations since 2007. The three corporations were unified to form one MCD by the Centre in May this year.

Gupta claimed the Kejriwal government crippled the MCDs financially by stopping funds worth Rs 42,000 crore during its eight years rule.

"We will demand direct transfer of global share fund to the MCD through the Lt Governor's office and not by the Delhi government. This will help solve the problem of fund crisis," he said.

Global share fund basically refers to the fixed portion of the Delhi government tax revenue which is given to the municipal body.

After the unification of the three municipal bodies, MCD resources could be spent where they are needed which was earlier not possible as there were three municipal corporations, he said.

On the AAP's attack on the BJP citing three garbage mountains in the city, Gupta said it was an example of how Kejriwal government did not help the civic bodies to dishcarge its functions by not releasing its due funds.

"It's not an issue because the BJP came out with a solution to remove the three garbage mountains in the city while Kejriwal government in the power for last 8 years did nothing in this regard or helped the municipal corporations."

"The Delhi BJP assures to reduce the three mountains of garbage at Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur by 2024," Gupta said.

The AAP government has also failed to clean the Yamuna river and contain air pollution in Delhi despite repeated assurances by no one else but Kejriwal himself, he said.

"Despite the financial hurdles created by the Kejriwal government, the municipal corporations ruled by the BJP managed to remove garbage collection points (dhalos) near residential and commercial areas, reduced the height of three landfills and disposed over 1100 metric tonn of waste daily over the years," he said.

Gupta admitted some discontent among over ticket distribution for MCD polls saying the issue was handled now.

"There was some discontent among party workers over ticket distribution. The BJP believes in taking everyone along and work together. Despite that if anyone is unhappy we will address their grievances."

The BJP routed the AAP and Congress in the previous municipal corporation polls in 2017, winning 181 of the 270 wards on which voting was held.