Delhi civic body doubles outlay for sanitation to ₹4,500cr; ₹1,000 cr allotted to roads

The heated exchanges between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and their BJP counterparts continued on Thursday

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Thursday passed the civic body’s budget for 2024-25 amid din as the mayor struggled to maintain order during the brief session with councillors from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) climbing atop benches, dais and tables in their bid to snatch the budget speech from the leader of the house Mukesh Goyal, marking complete pandemonium in the House.

New Delhi, India - Feb. 8, 2024: AAP party Councillors celebrating their victory after the passing of MCD budget at Civic Centre, in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, February 8, 2024. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The heated exchanges between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and their BJP counterparts continued on Thursday over various cut motions or amendments moved by the two sides.

BJP councillors were waiting in the well of the House even before mayor Shelly Oberoi arrived. Over the last three days, the BJP has been protesting against the proposals for increasing the financial powers and discretionary funds assigned to the Mayor. With little discussion taking place on Thursday, the AAP passed the budget through voice vote. Over the last three days, the AAP had assured the BJP members that they could have say when the amendments were put to vote on Thursday. However, the vote could not be taken up due to complement discorder in the House.

According to budget documents, the civic body has projected an income of ₹15,686.99 cr in 2024-25 fiscal and it has proposed allocations and expenditure of ₹16683.01 crore.The maximum allocation has been assigned to sanitation, one of the most critical functions of the civic body, with the total outlay under the head going up from ₹2,908 crore to ₹4,500 crore.

No new taxes or levies has been introduced by the civic body, senior civic officials said. They added that special emphasis has been laid on road infrastructure development with an additional allocation of ₹1,000 crore and ₹400 crore have been assigned for garbage management. The outlay will help the ruling AAP to fulfil its two main promises --- flattening the three landfills in the Capital and cleaning all streets and colonies.

The budget has also raised the discretionary fund to the mayor from ₹10 crore currently to ₹500 crore, a proposal that has raised hackles of the opposition which has claimed that money available for various statutory panels has been diverted to hike funds that are spend at the mayor’s discretion. Mayor Shelly Oberoi had clarified on Tuesday that the mayor has no personal funds, instead the discretionary funds are diverted for implementing work that is requested by the public and elected councillors.

Senior officials said that this was the first time that the MCD budget was passed without any inputs and discussion with the standing committee and other special committees. The AAP administration has argued that feedback from RWAs, market association and various stakeholders was taken since the statutory panel are yet to be formed.

Addressing a press conference after the House passed the budget, mayor Shelly Oberoi said that the first budget presented by the AAP after coming to power in MCD had two main themes-- infrastructure and garbage management. “BJP has not allowed the House to function over the last one year, and they created a ruckus today as well. However, we will not let this stop from delivering on our promises. We have not changed the overall income-expenditure proposed by the commissioner and a special fund of ₹1,000 crore has been earmarked for road development and maintenance, along with ₹400 crore for garbage management,” she added.

Leader of the House Mukesh Goyal said that over the last 15 years BJP has spent just around ₹700 crores on the road development. “As a new initiative, we are setting a fund of Rs1,000 crore for road development under which the contract for maintenance of roads for 10 years will also be provided. Penalty provisions for poor work have been added based on complaints. Moreover, the ₹500 crore discretionary fund for the mayor will also be used in development work,” he added.

“Over the last 15 years, the BJP has appointed private firms in all zones for door-to-door lifting of garbage. There is large scale corruption, and we will investigate this nexus,” he added. He added that 50-60% biomining of landfills has been completed and the project of expansion in hindered due to absence of standing committee.

Goyal also said that said the funds from Delhi government has increased from ₹4,745 crore in 2022-23 to ₹5,300 crore this year but the MCD is not being provided ₹588 per capita assistance provided by the central government to all other local bodies, reiterating the stated position of the AAP.

Justifying, the hike in the discretionary fund of the mayor, Goyal said previously the councillors were forced to plead with the officials to help them with implementing development work in their wards and their pleas were often not heeded. “Rs500 crore fund for the mayor has been made by clubbing the financial sub-heads which are lying unused. Elected people should have more power in any democratic system,” he added.

Leader of opposition Raja Iqbal Singh said the AAP “unconstitutionally” passed budget in the absence of the municipal commissioner. “The budget was passed without discussion, which has happened for the first time in the history of the corporation. The AAP government is working towards crippling all the constitutional committees like the education committee, ward committee, etc. and the budget of these committees for giving more privilege to the mayor,” he said.