MNCs caught in civic agencies’ mess

Unable to get revenues from the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Metro rail Corporation, (DMRC), the cash-strapped Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is sending multinational and Indian companies abroad emails asking them to pay money they already have for advertising their products.

Unable to get revenues from the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Metro rail Corporation, (DMRC), the cash-strapped Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is sending multinational and Indian companies abroad emails asking them to pay money they already have for advertising their products.

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The civic agency has also threatened to remove the advertisements of a number of companies from bus Q shelters on their own if money is not paid to them soon. The companies say they have already paid the money to the DTC and the DMRC.

Emails have been sent to the chief executive officer of Discovery channel in Johannesburg , Samsung in South Korea, Titan Industries Limited, ICICI Bank, Sony TV among others.

“The companies have already paid money to the DTC or the DMRC. It is the DTC and the DMRC who are not sharing the revenue with the MCD. So why penalise the companies?” said Rajni Abbi, a member of a high-powered standing committee of the MCD. She said it was illegal to send such threatening emails to company asking them to pay up.

“We are a civic body and there is a proper channel through which we need to communicate. By sending such emails to MNCs they are trying to pressure DTC into giving money. This is completely wrong. I have asked the commissioner to stop sending such emails and take up the matter with the DTC and the DMRC," she added.

However, the MCD’s executive wing claims it is legal to send such emails as the land on which advertisement was displayed belongs to it.

“The DTC is supposed to share revenue with us but they are not doing that. In such a scenario, the land on which the advertisement is displayed becomes unauthorised and it is legal on our part to inform the companies about it,” said a senior MCD official.

"The companies have paid money to the private firm which manages the advertisement contracts for the companies. But that company hasn't paid us fully. Once they do, we will pay the MCD," said a senior DTC official.