Delhi govt increases Budget, reduces MCDs' allocations: Mayors
New Delhi: Soon after the Delhi government released its Budget, the Municipal Corporations of Delhi have criticised it saying that while the Budget itself has been increased, the MCD's allocation has been reduced. The Mayors of all three civic bodies jointly addressed the press on Friday, saying that the reduced Budgetary allocations were meant to paralyze the civic agencies. They said that the Delhi government's Budget has been increasing every year while the Corporations' share is decreasing.
South Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Anamika Mithilesh Singh said, "The Delhi government is trying to derail ongoing development works of all three MCDs so it could get some political benefits in the upcoming Municipal Elections. In the Financial Year 2020-21, Delhi government has released Rs 94.89 Crore to the SDMC against budgetary allocation of Rs 106 crore under Urban Development Fund. Under Education Fund, it has released Rs 390 crore against the allocation of Rs 451 crore, under Mid-Day Meal Fund, the Delhi government has released Rs 7.02 crore against the budgetary allocation of Rs 23.70 crore, under Health Fund it has released Rs 56.17 crore against the allocation of Rs 65 crore and under non-plan overhead it has released Rs 647.22 crore against the allocation of Rs 1,010.26 crore".
Speaking along similar lines, North MCD Mayor Jai Prakash said, "The Delhi government is selling dreams to city residents through their Budget". "They had earlier said that they will develop Delhi on the lines of London, then they said they will develop on the lines of Paris but during the monsoon season, all of Delhi turned into Venice as excessive water and floods were seen on roads and streets of the city", he added, calling the Delhi government's Budget "'baseless" and "far from reality". According to the North MCD Mayor, in Financial Year 2018-19 Delhi government made a provision of Rs 6,930 crore of the MCDs, in Financial Year 2019-20 it made a provision of Rs 6,380 crore, in Financial Year 2020-21 it made a provision of Rs 6,828 crore and in Financial Year 2021-22 it has made a provision of just Rs 6,172 crore which is nearly Rs 700 crore less than the last year. He also requested the Delhi government to add Rs 10,000 crore more for the civic agencies as they required money to pay salaries and to manage other expenditures.
East MCD Mayor Nirmal Jain said, "the Delhi Government is busy in sloganeering and in releasing advertisements as they have nothing to do with development of the city. He said that the government was allocating separate funds under Parking and Transfer Duty overheads but now it has merged both the allocations in single overhead".
