Panel report exposes flagrant corruption in MCDs, says AAP

In a report to the Supreme Court, the monitoring committee said the civic bodies failed to realise property dues.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled municipal corporations in Delhi have failed to collect penalties from defaulters of property tax due to rampant corruption.

(Representative image/REUTERS)

The BJP refuted the allegations.

Citing a report by the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee which said that if the MCDs collected property tax dues and penalties efficiently, it would not have gone bankrupt, AAP’s MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said, “The BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation has been able to collect only 5% penalties because of flagrant corruption by its councillors. Thanks to the BJP’s incessant misgovernance and incompetence, the MCD now stands for ‘Most Corrupt Department’,” he said.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the AAP was backing a report by the sealing panel whose actions were strongly opposed by the traders. “During last few years the monitoring committee has sealed thousands of properties alleging misuse and imposed hundreds of crores of rupees penalties and has been pressuring MCDs to recover the amounts and demolish properties. MCDs have rather been sensitive towards traders,” he said.

In another press conference, AAP MLA Atishi said the BJP-ruled East MCD “gobbled” money in the name of waste management and is now asking the Kejriwal government for funds. “The private company was supposed to set up recycling plants, and the MCD had made due payments. However, the BJP leaders ended up squandering all the money,” she said.

Kapoor squarely rejected Atishi’s allegations.