BJP blames Delhi govt for municipal crisis

NEW DELHI: Several BJP councillors along with the three mayors protested against the state government outside Delhi Secretariat on Wednesday for not releasing funds to the municipal corporations. The councillors said that Delhi government has withheld funds that belong to the corporations in the form of global share of taxes.
"AAP is not tabling the Fourth Finance Commission report as they will have to give us funds.We want our tax share of Rs 300 crore for this year to be released by the government," said north Delhi mayor, Yogender Chandolia.
The municipal corporations used to get 9% of total taxes collected by the state as their tax share, but since 2012 this amount has been adjusted in repayment of loans. "We are charged interest at the rate of 13.5%, which is steep. Sheila Dikshit's government is responsible for our financial crisis and AAP isn't helping us tide over it," Chandolia said.
Councillors said they haven't been able to pay salaries and pension to their staff for months. Also, no new major developmental projects have been taken up due to lack of funds.
Holding banners demanding money for development work, the protestors also covered their mouth with black ribbons. They later met Kejriwal at his office, but claimed that the issue has remained unresolved. "The CM told us that the state government is already in a debt of Rs 5,000 crore and asked us to raise the matter with the Centre," said B B Tyagi, chairman of the standing committee, East corporation. However, the BJP leadership in the three corporations has refused to go to the Centre for help.
Later, the mayors and councillors met LG Najeeb Jung asking him to intervene and resolve the issue.