BJP councillors protesting on the MCD premises in New Delhi on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House was adjourned without a discussion on Wednesday as ruckus marred its proceedings, with the BJP seeking to corner the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the delay in the mayoral polls and the incidents of drowning due to waterlogging in the city.
The BJP members also blamed AAP for the delay in the constitution of the MCD Standing Committee — the civic body’s main decision-making arm that has executive powers to grant approval to projects worth over ₹5 crore.
The constitution of the crucial panel has been pending since the mayoral polls that were held in March 2023.
The House was adjourned twice — for 15 and 30 minutes respectively. However, the protest continued. Several BJP members entered the Well of the House with banners amid continuous sloganeering, leading to the suspension of BJP councillors Gajender Singh Daral (Mundka), Pankaj Luthra (Jhilmil), Amit Nagpal (Pitampura), and Ravinder Negi (Vinod Nagar).
‘Unconstitutional’
The Leader of the Opposition, Raja Iqbal Singh, opposed the suspension of his party councillors. “This is completely unconstitutional,” he said.
On the other hand, AAP members blamed the BJP for “misusing the House proceedings to protest”. “They did not let us talk about waterlogging or pose questions to officials,” said AAP’s Manglapuri councillor Narender Kumar.
An AAP councillor said it was wrong to blame his party for the delay in the mayoral elections as these were postponed by Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena in April this year.
Ruling AAP members also lodged complaints over the budget allotted to each councillor for development works in their wards.
“Earlier, we were allotted a good sum for each ward, but now it has been slashed to ₹15 lakh for each councillor per year,” said AAP’s Dilshad Garden councillor Preeti, adding that the amount is inadequate to carry out development works even is the smallest of wards.
She also staged a dharna outside the Mayor’s office in protest over the issue, asking for a meeting with the MCD Commissioner.
An AAP member told The Hindu That the party had requested the MCD Commissioner during the preparation of the budget estimates to allot ₹75 lakh to each councillor to carry out development works in their wards but the officer kept the limit at ₹15 lakh.
The budget is prepared by the MCD Commissioner’s office after receiving estimates from various civic body panels.