<p>Erstwhile corporation also did not focus on its core responsibilities, says Walia.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Delhi's Congress government on Monday came down hard on BJP-run muncipal corporations, asking them to set their own houses in order instead of blaming the city government for their financial problems.<br /><br />The MCDs should put an end to wasteful expenditure and think of ways to increase their revenue, said senior Delhi minister Ashok Kumar Walia. Public works department minister Rajkumar Chauhan also talked tough at the same press conference.<br /><br />“Every Finance Commission has invited attention to the wasteful expenditure by the erstwhile MCD and the absence of effective measures to step up resource mobilisation. The MCD also diverted resources into discretionary functions rather than focus on core responsibilities,” Walia said.<br /><br />He also accused the BJP-run pre-trifurcation MCD of projecting “inflated estimates of both income and expenditures.” <br /><br />The actual receipt and expenditure figures of erstwhile MCD has always been lower than the projections, added Walia.<br /><br />‘Irrational budgeting’</p>.<p>Walia said the three municipalities have been involved in irrational budgeting and have been concentrating on getting more funds from the city government.<br /><br />The minister said the MCD's property tax receipts have been stagnating at about Rs 765 crore in the last two years; and that tax is being collected from only nine lakh properties as against a total of 31 lakh in the city.<br /><br /> “The corporation is guilty of perpetuating an iniquitous tax regime. It has been riding the wave of rising revenues of the state government that has taken the hard decisions, such as revision of circle rates,” said Walia.<br /><br />In the last four years the average rate of increase of non plan support to the MCD has been 20 per cent while the growth in tax collection of MCD is just about 10 per cent, added the minister.<br /><br />The minister alleged that MCD's salary bill is much higher than its collection.<br /><br />PWD minister Chauhan said during 2012-13, the anticipated income of three the MCDs will be Rs 6,081 crore. Of this the Delhi government will contribute Rs 2,951 crore, or around half the amount.<br /><br />“Besides this, it was also allowed to make use of last year's unspent amount of Rs 468 crore. There is no dearth of funds, but MCD has been marred by its absolute inefficiency and incompetence and even the new MCDs are becoming the victims of this. This will affect delivery of civic services and their expansion,” said Chauhan.<br /><br />He said leaders in the new MCDs are misleading people by raising baseless issues and levelling imaginary charges against the city Government.<br /></p>
<p>Erstwhile corporation also did not focus on its core responsibilities, says Walia.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Delhi's Congress government on Monday came down hard on BJP-run muncipal corporations, asking them to set their own houses in order instead of blaming the city government for their financial problems.<br /><br />The MCDs should put an end to wasteful expenditure and think of ways to increase their revenue, said senior Delhi minister Ashok Kumar Walia. Public works department minister Rajkumar Chauhan also talked tough at the same press conference.<br /><br />“Every Finance Commission has invited attention to the wasteful expenditure by the erstwhile MCD and the absence of effective measures to step up resource mobilisation. The MCD also diverted resources into discretionary functions rather than focus on core responsibilities,” Walia said.<br /><br />He also accused the BJP-run pre-trifurcation MCD of projecting “inflated estimates of both income and expenditures.” <br /><br />The actual receipt and expenditure figures of erstwhile MCD has always been lower than the projections, added Walia.<br /><br />‘Irrational budgeting’</p>.<p>Walia said the three municipalities have been involved in irrational budgeting and have been concentrating on getting more funds from the city government.<br /><br />The minister said the MCD's property tax receipts have been stagnating at about Rs 765 crore in the last two years; and that tax is being collected from only nine lakh properties as against a total of 31 lakh in the city.<br /><br /> “The corporation is guilty of perpetuating an iniquitous tax regime. It has been riding the wave of rising revenues of the state government that has taken the hard decisions, such as revision of circle rates,” said Walia.<br /><br />In the last four years the average rate of increase of non plan support to the MCD has been 20 per cent while the growth in tax collection of MCD is just about 10 per cent, added the minister.<br /><br />The minister alleged that MCD's salary bill is much higher than its collection.<br /><br />PWD minister Chauhan said during 2012-13, the anticipated income of three the MCDs will be Rs 6,081 crore. Of this the Delhi government will contribute Rs 2,951 crore, or around half the amount.<br /><br />“Besides this, it was also allowed to make use of last year's unspent amount of Rs 468 crore. There is no dearth of funds, but MCD has been marred by its absolute inefficiency and incompetence and even the new MCDs are becoming the victims of this. This will affect delivery of civic services and their expansion,” said Chauhan.<br /><br />He said leaders in the new MCDs are misleading people by raising baseless issues and levelling imaginary charges against the city Government.<br /></p>
