Delhi Govt's high-handedness hinders MCD development works : Mayor

New Delhi, Jan 10 (UNI) Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra today met Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and apprised him of the financial difficulties being faced by the Muncipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in carrying out development works in rural areas due to the alleged ''high handedness'' of the city-state Government.

She said that during the year 2005-06, the Rural Development Board was constituted by the Delhi Government and after that the proposed amount given to the MCD for the development of rural areas and maintenance of roads was discontinued.

''The Board has not fulfilled its obligations and the roads are in a bad shape. Prior to the constitution of the Board, the MCD was getting Rs 30 crores from the Delhi Government and development works were regularly carried out in the rural areas with the amount,'' she added.

Seeking intervention of the Planning Commission, she said due to the paucity of funds, MCD was not able to carry out any schemes in the rural areas, comprising of 191 villages.

Dr Ahluwalia patiently assured the Mayor that he would get the matter examined.

Later Ms Mehra met Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and urged her to release the necessary funds to the MCD to enable it to carry out development works in the rural areas.

She pointed out that a high-level meeting had decided to release Rs 65 crores to the MCD for development works in the rural areas, but the amount had not been released yet.

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