East civic corporation seeks L-G’s help to clear Rs 900-crore debt

Officials of the fund-starved East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) have approached Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung to seek financial help to clear the civic body’s Rs 900-crore debt. They also sought a grant of Rs 450 crore each year to run the civic agency.

Officials of the fund-starved East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) have approached Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung to seek financial help to clear the civic body’s Rs 900-crore debt. They also sought a grant of Rs 450 crore each year to run the civic agency.

According to the officials, the corporation is not self-sufficient as the expenses are more than its income and it will always be dependent on grants as it lacks revenue generation potential.

East corporation Mayor Meenakshi along with standing committee chairman BB Tyagi and leader of the house Ram Narayan Dubey met the L-G on Wednesday, requesting for financial help.

According to the Mayor, the EDMC had failed to pay salaries to staff, including sanitation workers, on time.

The condition is so bad that even contractors had not been paid nearly Rs 200 crore from December 2012, they said.

Employees are waiting for arrears that are due for the last two years. Old-age pension beneficiaries are protesting as they have not got pension money from March 2013.

Recently, the EDMC commissioner had proposed a budget of Rs 2,183 crore for the year 2015-16, which includes Rs 600 crore as grant from the Delhi government.

“EDMC never had the potential to generate revenue. It was under debt when the corporation was trifurcated. Revenue sources are limited and civic body has not managed to generate money from advertisements and parking. Even property tax collection in EDMC is low because of low categories of colonies in East Delhi,” the mayor explained.