AAP alleges fund hike for SDMC councillors, BJP says no change in amount
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday alleged that the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) is increasing the annual funds given to each councillor from ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore at a time when several employees of the three municipal corporations (MCDs) are on strike over non-payment of salaries
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday alleged that the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) is increasing the annual funds given to each councillor from ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore at a time when several employees of the three municipal corporations (MCDs) are on strike over non-payment of salaries.
The SDMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denied ordering any hike, saying the local area development fund for councillors has been ₹1 crore for the past several years.
Senior AAP leader and chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said that on Tuesday, the SDMC increased the annual funds for each councillor from ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore. “Employees of the BJP-ruled MCDs are on strike because doctors, nurses, medical professionals teachers, sanitation workers and others have not got their salaries for several months. On one hand, the BJP-ruled MCD claims they do not have money to pay the salaries of their employees and on the other hand, yesterday (Tuesday) they increased funds for the councillors. Earlier, they had increased this fund from Rs.25 lakh to Rs.50 lakh and now it has become Rs1 crores,” he said.
The SDMC said that the councillor fund has always been ₹1 crore and there was no change to it.
{{/usCountry}}The SDMC said that the councillor fund has always been ₹1 crore and there was no change to it.
{{/usCountry}}“The AAP is misleading the people of Delhi. Standing committee chairperson, Rajdutt Gahlot, had on Tuesday merely scrapped the budget proposals put up by additional commissioner Ramesh Verma. Each councillor is anyway entitled to ₹1 crore every year. In fact, even that amount is not disbursed in full most of the time, owing to fund crunch,” said Anamika Mithilesh Singh, mayor of SDMC.
{{/usCountry}}“The AAP is misleading the people of Delhi. Standing committee chairperson, Rajdutt Gahlot, had on Tuesday merely scrapped the budget proposals put up by additional commissioner Ramesh Verma. Each councillor is anyway entitled to ₹1 crore every year. In fact, even that amount is not disbursed in full most of the time, owing to fund crunch,” said Anamika Mithilesh Singh, mayor of SDMC.
{{/usCountry}}In its budget for 2021-22, SDMC additional commissioner Ramesh Verma had proposed reducing the councillor’s area development fund from ₹1 crore to ₹50 lakh. But on Tuesday, Gahlot rejected the proposal.
{{/usCountry}}In its budget for 2021-22, SDMC additional commissioner Ramesh Verma had proposed reducing the councillor’s area development fund from ₹1 crore to ₹50 lakh. But on Tuesday, Gahlot rejected the proposal.
{{/usCountry}}AAP’s Bhardwaj said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party believes that the reason behind this “hike” is just to loot the MCD.
{{/usCountry}}AAP’s Bhardwaj said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party believes that the reason behind this “hike” is just to loot the MCD.
{{/usCountry}}“We also believe that the BJP councillors are very scared and they feel that in the upcoming election, the BJP will lose, therefore, they want to loot the MCD before leaving. The BJP councillors also know that they will not get any ticket in the upcoming MCD election because of their corruption,” Bhardwaj said.
The Delhi BJP said it is “shocking” how the AAP is “cooking up stories” to allege corruption in the MCDs.
“The fact is there is no employees strike in SDMC. It seems that the AAP MLAs are pilfering the annual MLA-LAD funds which is why they are assuming that the councillors too might do the same,” said Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor.