Short of funds, North civic body mayor asks L-G for bailout deal

As per the presentation given by him to L-G, the north MCD has a projected overall revenue of ₹4,612 crore for financial year 2019-20.

Avtar Singh, North Municipal Corporation mayor, met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Friday requesting a “special bailout package of ₹3,000 crore” for the civic body, which is suffering a massive budget deficit.

Last year, north body staff had thrown garbage outside Shastri Bhawan, to protest late salary. (HT Archive)

Avtar Singh said, “On taking over as mayor last month, I sat with the commissioner and went through our finances to find that we can barely stay afloat. We are facing strikes by doctors, nurses and teachers as we are unable to pay them.”

“Our condition is worse off than south and east corporations as we run six major hospitals, medical colleges, two Ayurvedic hospitals, 100 dispensaries and about 700 schools catering to about three lakh students. They are rendering an important service to Delhiites, especially the poor section and we can’t shut them down,” he said.

As per the presentation given by him to L-G, the north MCD has a projected overall revenue of ₹4,612 crore for financial year 2019-20. However, it has to meet expenditure to the tune of ₹3,600 crore on account of salaries and allied expenses.

Plus, it has to get rid of pending liabilities -- payments to contractors, pension to former employees, etc. – worth ₹3691 crore.

“Thus, we figured out that we will fall short approximately by ₹2,679 crore. This is beyond our means,” Singh said.

The north civic body caters to about 75 lakh, 43% of the total 180 lakh population of Delhi.