Responding to the Lieutenant Governor’s statement regarding the increase in the revenue of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Urban Development Minister Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj has raised questions about the statement of the Lieutenant Governor. Shri Bhardwaj stated that the Lieutenant Governor’s comment raised questions about the 15-year tenure of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s control of the MCD.
Shri Bhardwaj expressed concerns about LG’s statement about the MCD’s revenue growth over the past year. Shri Bharadwaj said, “The LG’s statement about the MCD’s earnings increasing from Rs 7249 crores to Rs 8900 crores in 2022-23, indicating revenue growth of about Rs 1650 crores raises some questions. We hope he will answer these questions.”
Shri Bharadwaj then laid down the questions:
“- Were the old officers of the MCD replaced by new officers during 2022-23?
- Were the old officers of the Property Tax Department replaced by new officers during 2022-23?
- Was the Commissioner of the MCD replaced by a new Commissioner in 2022-23?
- Were all the employees of the MCD replaced by new employees in 2022-23?”
Shri Bhardwaj further said that from 2007 to 2022, the MCD was under the control of the Bharatiya Janata Party,m. He continued, “However, in the last 1 year , the MCD has been run as per the rules and regulations and managed by the officers, so the BJP’s Municipal Govt has not been able to interfere in its functioning. As such, when the LG claims that he has put an end to the revenue leakages within the Municipal Corporation, leading to a significant increase in revenue; this statement implies that the LG also acknowledges the revenue of the Municipal Corporation had been looted for the past 15 years under the BJP government.”
Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj demanded that the LG conduct an investigation into the loot that the LG claimed had stopped in the MCD after 15 years of BJP rule. He said, “The LG has a habit of conducting an investigation for trivial matters, so I request that since he claimed that the revenue loot of the MCD had been stopped over the last year, the LG should conduct an investigation into who was looting the MCD over the past 15 years”. Shri Bharadwaj further said that since the LG himself acknowledged that revenue loot had been taking place in the MCD for years, the LG should establish a high-level committee to investigate and reveal to the people of Delhi who were involved in looting their tax money for the past 15 years. Shri Bharadwaj concluded by saying that strict action should be taken against those responsible for this crime.
