Kejriwal Govt indulging in politics, holding back dues: MCDs

New Delhi, Oct 26: The Mayors of the three BJP-ruled municipal corporations here today accused the Delhi government of holding back dues running into several hundred crores and instead indulging in politics over the issue.

The Mayors in a joint press conference presented the details of dues to be paid by Delhi government to the civic bodies and alleged that the government was not sorting out the issue despite accepting that the MCDs were facing financial crisis.

Referring to a recent meeting between the three mayors and the deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Mayor Subhash Arya said the AAP government is not interested in honestly resolving the issue.

"Before the meeting with Mayors, the government released figures of its payments to MCDs to media which indicates how it was doing politics over the issue," Arya said adding that government owes Rs 400 crore of SDMC.

"It is for the first time that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accepted financial crisis faced by the municipal corporations," North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Ravinder Gupta said claiming that NDMC dues over Delhi government totalled around Rs 1800 crore which included Rs 600 crore dues on power discoms.

East Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Harsh Malhotra too claimed that the civic body's dues over Delhi government totalled to Rs 1000 crore which included municipal reforms funds worth Rs 300 crore, Rs 400 crore of employees dues and Rs 200 crore dues of contractors.

"If the government is honest, it should sit with MCDs and clear the issue by taking help of chartered accountants and other financial experts," Arya said.

Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay while accusing Chief Minister Kejriwal of playing "petty" politics on the funds issue, demanded him to issue orders for payment of MCD dues and table the report of Fourth Finance Commission before Delhi Assembly.

PTI