Indian Express 27.07.2010
In 3 days, MCD gets Rs 1490 cr from govt
Express News Service Tags : MCD fund cruch, delhi Posted: Tue Jul 27 2010, 01:08 hrs
New Delhi: After an urgent appeal to the Delhi government over its recent fund crunch, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has managed to secure a sum of Rs 1,490 crore as the ‘first instalment’ of its demand of nearly Rs 4,500 crore. Mayor Prithvi Raj Sawhney said the Delhi government will release the amount on Tuesday.The MCD will receive Rs 390 crore to fund its ‘non-planned expenditure’, another Rs 500 crore to fund its planned expenditure and Rs 100 crore as grant. The civic body will further be given a sum of Rs 500 crore in the form of a ‘sanctioned loan’.
The agency claims it will use the amount to immediately pay nearly 3,000 contractors who are on strike at present demanding their pending salaries. The amount will also be used to pay the pension amounts due to the elderly, widows and the physically handicapped for a three-month period.
The agency claims it will have to wait for the second instalment to fund its various Commonwealth Games projects, using the remaining amount in the first instalment to pay the ‘discretionary funds’ to its councillors.
In January, the MCD had passed a resolution to pay “discretionary funds ranging between Rs 1 crore and Rs 3 crore to each member of its deliberative wing to fund various projects at their respective levels”.
“Our Games projects are mainly on track. Whatever little is required will be looked into soon after the government releases the second instalment,” said Sawhney. “The government has released a part of our requirement and will release the rest later as it also has to shoulder the burden of a number of Games projects,” Sawhney said.
On July 22, in a four-page letter written to Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, Municipal Commissioner K S Mehra said while the civic agency was making every effort to “augment its internal revenue resources and to curtail expenditure without hampering development work”, it required
Rs 3,539 crore in grant and another Rs 1,000 crore as a loan to pay salaries, fund various Games-related projects and compensate for its poor property tax collections.
The Commissioner had added in the letter that if granted the financial help, the MCD will be able to “proceed on a clean slate” and that the same will also go “a long way in boosting the morale of the Corporation”.
According to MCD officials, while the agency has been receiving funds from both the Delhi government and the Centre for projects directly linked to the Games, a “lot of the MCD’s own funds were being utilised for projects that are not directly linked to the sporting event, prompting the need for additional funds”.
The Corporation has sought a one-time grant of Rs 1,080 crore for settling its Sixth Pay Commission arrears worth Rs 650 crore and the pending dues of the Dearness Allowance hike announced in April this year. It has also asked for Rs 1, 254 crore to cover the shortfall in its property tax collection.
First instalment
Rs 390 crore
non-planned expenditure
Rs 500 crore
planned expenditure
Rs 100 crore
grant
Rs 500 crore
sanctioned loan
