NDMC, EDMC mayors ask Delhi govt when will Rs 938 cr be released

A day after Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced Rs 938 cr for the municipal corporations of Delhi to pay salaries of their employees, two mayors on Friday asked when will the fund be released to the civic bodies.

In a press conference here, North Delhi Mayor, Jai Prakash and East Delhi Mayor Nirmal Jain also jointly asked as to when would the Delhi government release the ''third installment of grant-in-aid'' which they claimed was due in January.

''Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia yesterday announced that they are releasing Rs 938 cr to municipal corporations for disbursement of salary only. Hence, this must be clarified by the Delhi government that what would be the share among three corporations, as so far nothing is clear,'' Prakash said.

East Delhi Mayor Jain claimed that till today ''no sanction note'' has been prepared by the Delhi government for release of Rs 938 cr, and it is ''only an announcement'' so far. The mayors asked when would be the funds be released so that more salaries can be disbursed, as employees of the corporations are still on strike for the demand of arrears and salaries.

On Thursday, hundreds of employees of the three municipal corporations protested in front of the Civic Center to press for their demands, which includes release of their due salaries, arrears and pensions of retired employees.

Employees on strike sought to march from Civic Centre, headquarters of North Delhi Municipal Corporation and South Delhi Municipal Corporation, on way to the Delhi CM House, however, they were stopped by police, said A P Khan, Convener of MCD Employees Union.

A senior police officer said, ''Twenty-two people were detained who were later released.'' The protesting members have also decided to ''boycott'' duty for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out which is starting January 16, Khan said.

''Salaries of so many people have not been paid, those who have retired even recently their pensions not paid, for the last few months. And then they ask us to go on COVID duty. We have decided to boycott vaccination duty,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)