Sanitation crisis amid Covid? Civic body leaders seek funds from Delhi govt
Mayors said that due to lack of funds, the corporations have not been able to release salaries and pension to its employees on time. The employees have been threatening to go on a strike.
On the seventh day of their protest, Mayors of the three municipal corporations on Sunday said that the delay in release of funds by the Delhi government will result in a sanitation and medical crisis, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, in the city.
Mayors said that due to lack of funds, the corporations have not been able to release salaries and pension to its employees on time. The employees have been threatening to go on a strike.
The mayors and office-bearers of the three municipal corporations have been sitting on protest outside Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence since December 7, demanding immediate release of ₹13,000 crore to the corporations.
North Corporation Mayor Jai Prakash said, “The three corporation have 70,000 sanitation staff and we lift close to 10,000 metric tonnes of waste and 100 metric tonnes of biomedical waste. But we have not been able to pay them salaries on time. Does the AAP government want a sanitation crisis in the midst of a pandemic? How will these people run their homes without money? We are unable to pay salaries due to shortage of funds.”
Hitting out at the CM, Jai Prakash said, “We have been sitting here for the past seven days and the CM is just not concerned. He has not even called us for a meeting. They are just playing politics at a time when we all need to work together.”
The AAP government has ordered an inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of funds of more than ₹2,400 crore in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. AAP leaders also demanded a CBI inquiry into it.
Naveen Kumar, media head of Delhi BJP, said, “They are levelling baseless allegations. The government has ordered an inquiry. We want them to complete the inquiry in the next seven days and if any misappropriation of funds is found, then our mayors will resign. But if they don’t find any misappropriation of funds, then the Kejriwal government should resign.”
Meanwhile, all the three mayors said that they will run their offices from outside Delhi CM’s residence from Monday onwards.