North MCD seeks loan from South

Asks Delhi BJP chief to put in a word

The funds-starved North Corporation has decided to seek a loan of Rs 100 crore from South Delhi Municipal Corporation to extricate itself from its financial woes.

Chairman of the Standing Committee of North Corporation Mohan Prasad Bhardwaj said he has asked the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party head Satish Upadhyay to persuade the South Corporation to give them the loan.

“We have spoken to the Delhi BJP head to give us the grant so that we can work for the development of the people,” said Bhardwaj in the Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Satish Upadhyay is also a councillor from Malviya Nagar under South Corporation.
“There is a dire need of funds and if we won’t get the money how are we supposed to carry out our obligatory functions,” Bhardwaj added.

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has managed to pay salaries to only 55 per cent of its employees for January, said a senior official with the civic agency. It requires Rs 170 crore to pay salaries and other benefits to its employees per month, he added.

Short of cash
Councillors from the opposition party, Congress, said the north civic agency is short of cash because the south civic agency has not paid maintenance charges and electricity bills for using its building – the Civic Centre.

The Civic Centre A Block houses offices of both the North and South Corporations, but it comes under the jurisdiction of the North Corporation.

The South Corporation owes over Rs 40 crore to the north civic agency as dues, the official said.
“The South Corporation has been using our building without paying any dues. We don’t even have a clear idea how much it owes,” said Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel.

To this, the chairman of the Standing Committee replied, “We have asked the South Corporation to clear their dues, and we have also talked to Delhi BJP unit head about the issue.”

The opposition also complained that the south civic agency has started making changes in its offices at the Civic Centre without taking approval from the North Corporation.

“How can a tenant make changes in a rented apartment without taking approval of the landlord?” Goel added.

So the North Corporation passed a resolution making it compulsory for the south civic agency to get Standing Committee’s approval before making alterations to Civic Centre A Block.