Sisodia demands more money for drying civic body

NEW DELHI: The demand for increasing Delhi’s municipal corporation funding was made by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia at a pre-budget dialogue convened by Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance, Government of India, on Thursday, December 31.

“The national capital is the face of the country, yet municipal corporations in Delhi are currently experiencing a severe funding shortfall and are unable to maintain the capital’s cleanliness and development. As a result, money should be allocated to the municipal corporations of Delhi, just as they are in other states,” said Sisodia. 

The 15th Finance Commission approved grant-in-aid of Rs 4,36,361 crore to local bodies for the period 2021-26, according to the Deputy CM. “However, the municipal bodies of the National Capital Territory of Delhi were left out due to a technicality in the system, which only covers states. This is incompatible with the constitutional obligation to strengthen local governments”, he asserted.

Sisodia also urged that in the next budget, the central government boost central aid for Delhi to Rs 2,020 crore. “Delhi has received only Rs 325 crore from the central tax for the past 21 years. It is now vital for the central government to boost it. Twenty-one years ago, central support accounted for 5.14 per cent of Delhi’s budget. It’s presently at 0.9 per cent, according to the latest figures”, he informed.