₹442.78 crore released for MCD

NEW DELHI : The Delhi Cabinet on Thursday approved an additional amount of Rs 442.78 crore for the three municipal corporations to pay salaries of sanitation employees. Approving the additional funds, the cabinet in a meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the money released should be used only to make payments to sanitation employees, including their salaries.

The move came after a delegation of sanitation employees under the aegis of Swachhta Karamchari Union met the chief min- ister and briefed him about the financial problems they are facing.

“The fund has been released for the betterment of the sanitation employees who had complained of not getting salaries and other payments from their respective corporations,” a government statement said.

In his meeting with the sanitation employees on Wednesday, Kejriwal said that the government was paying the municipal corporations much more than what was paid in the preceding years. He said it was “astonishing” to know that they were facing financial problems.

Kejriwal told the delegation that in 2016-17, the AAP government released Rs 948 crore for the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) while it was given only Rs 287.72 crore in 2013-14.

Similarly, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North DMC) received Rs 1318.26 crore in 2016-17 as compared to Rs. 808.77 crore in 2013-14. Sanitation employees of EDMC had gone on a strike in October this year demanding payment of their salaries, regularisation of daily wagers, issuing medical cashless cards, payment of arrears (pending since 2003) and a merger of the three civic agencies.