Anil Anand
It is a pure politico-economic war unfolded between BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation in Delhi local. Such political battles need issues or excuses, most of the times flimsy. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, all its three units governed by the BJP, has become a whipping boy for the two political formations. It is rather ironic that both sides wish to be seen as well wishers of the large workforce of the civic body who have been relentlessly fighting for their wages due to paucity of funds and in turn Delhites suffering for no fault of theirs.
What is the genesis of this shortage of funds meant for the MCD which has an annual budget bigger than many states? Well some may say and that includes chief minister Arvind Kejriwal that the root cause of one of the biggest civic bodies of the country facing financial crunch has a lot to do with the semi-state status which Delhi has. That could be one part but not the entire story as this status has been in-place since 1993. But the MCD never had that bad as currently caught in the BJP-AAP cross-fire.
Politics has superseded everything else. Kejriwal needed a potent weapon to come evens with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at least to build a futuristic Modi versus Kejriwal perceptive electoral battle. The AAP began a no-holds-bar battle against the BJP-led Government at the Centre particularly Mr Modi, in turn absolutely forgetting that by doing so the sufferers would be the people of Delhi. The BJP (read Centre) has retaliated in equal terms with both the sides preferring scoring political brownie points rather than try and have a working relationship in the interest of Delhi.
The predominant political facade or clash is many a times created by political parties as a smoke screen to cover their failures particularly when in the ruling. The current eyeball-to-eyeball positioning of BJP and AAP over MCD finances is exactly not a story of political one-up-manship but beneath this cover lies saga of financial mismanagement, maladministration, misuse and failure. Coupled with this the chronic mismanagement and corruption in the MCD has made the matter worst.
Primarily the dispute has its making in the budgetary allocations made by the Centre particularly when Delhi was under a short spell of President’s rule and AAP Government for MCD. It has more to it in the failure of the AAP government to meet revenue targets and properly and optimally utilise the available resources. In this financial story both the sides have their fair share of failures deliberate or otherwise.
An analysis of the funds devolved by Delhi Government to MCD during the last three financial years provides ample insight into the intentions of the Centre and the AAP government. Beginning with financial year 2012-13, when Congress ruled Delhi, 9.36 per cent of the Budget was earmarked for the MCD which amounted to Rs 3,128.16 crore. In the subsequent years in came down to 6.74 per cent or Rs 2477.54 in 2014-15 and 5.98 per cent or Rs 2457.84 crore in 2015-16.
What makes the study interesting is that Delhi’s budget for 2014-15 was passed by the Parliament with Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitely at the helm of affairs. This was so because the city-state was briefly under President’s rule following resignation by Mr Kejriwal who was leading a minority government. And the 2015-16 budget was entirely that of the AAP government with a thumping majority.
The moot point here is that what would have been the consequences had the MCD allocation been kept at 9.36 per cent in the two subsequent financial years. At this constant rate, even if not increased, it would have gone up to Rs 3441.30 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 3,849.67 crore in 2015-16. This take-off calculation is on Rs 3,128.16 crore in 2012-13.
While both the BJP and the AAP, read the Centre and Delhi governments, are engaged in an intense political battle blaming each other for the MCD’s financial mess, none is ready to explain or justify this low budgetary allocation for the MCD. The political clash has resulted in the functioning of the civic body taking a further beating as employees spend more time fighting for their salaries than performing their duties in the field. The enormity of the work has grown manifold while financial allocation dropped considerably.
The other side of the story pertains to serious flaws in the performance of the AAP government both in terms of mopping up resources and more seriously in optimally spending the available financial resources. On the spending part the BJP-led dispensation in the Centre has its share of failures during the interregnum Delhi was under President’s rule.
How does it imply blaming each other for lack of funds for MCD’s malfunctioning when available resources were not properly and optimally spent? This story of inefficiency has been brought out by the figures of huge unspent amounts reflected in the budgetary papers of Delhi government.
This story of unspent funds began in 2013-14 when AAP was in power for 49 days which was followed by a stint of Central rule. An amount of Rs 1300 crore (7.90 per cent) was left unspent which raises a finger on both the BJP-led Union Government and the AAP dispensation. The latter has conveniently tried to heap blame for this on the Centre on the plea that it was in power only for a brief period.
But the story did not stop even when AAP came back to power with brute majority. The unspent funds rose to Rs 1350 (7.63 per cent) during 2014-15. The story of incompetence became more serious as reflected in the figures of 2015-16 budgetary allocation and spending. The deficit, unspent amount, almost doubled to Rs 2600 crore (13.68 crore).
Fact of the matter is that the real story of BJP-AAP stand-off on MCD funding stands exposed here. The blame, naturally, is more on Kejriwal and his dispensation. They have failed to spend properly but to hide their failures create a bogey of Centre starving them of funds. So, they justify MCD employees protesting on roads for want of salary for which the AAP dispensation squarely blamed the BJP and its Government at the Centre.
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