MCDS diverted money to pay salaries: Data
NEW DELHI: Most of the funds collected in the form of conversion charges and parking fees by the municipal corporations were “diverted” to other non-plan heads like employee-related expenditure, shows data submitted by the civic bodies to a special assembly panel.
Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel last week referred the issues pertaining to the ongoing sealing drive by civic bodies, conversion charges and others, to the Special Committee of the House and directed it to submit its report on the first day of the next session.
The committee which is headed by MLA Bhawna Gaur last week summoned commissioners of all the three municipal corporations on the issue and asked them to submit details pertaining to conversion and parking charges collected.
During the proceeding of the Special Committee the civic bodies on Tuesday revealed that the funds collected as conversion charges from 2006-07 to 2016-17 had been “diverted towards payments of salaries, arrears and other employee-related expenditure.” As per the norms conversion charges are collected for “incurring expenditure for augmentation of amenities of infrastructure and environmental improvement program” for the areas. Parking charges are collected for “development of parking sites for creating additional parking spaces”.
Officials privy to the matter said that all three commissioners on Tuesday submitted details of the collection and use of the conversion and parking charges to the Special Committee.
These collections were supposed to be kept in an escrow account. Next meeting of the Committee will take place on January 30. Data submitted shows that the Municipal Corporation collected ₹1,128.72 crore between 2006-2007 and 2011-2012, but only ₹101.39 crore was spent to develop the market areas and parking through the escrow account. “₹1,027.33 crore was spent on other expenditures of salaries of employees,” sources said.