Amid protests by BJP councillors over the alleged spending of Rs 45 crore on “beautification” of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence, the municipal House on Tuesday passed several proposals, including one linked with transfer of services related to cleaning, sweeping and desilting along 60-foot roads from MCD to PWD.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that Mayor Shelly Oberoi conducted the meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) “unconstitutionally” and demanded cancellation of the proceedings. Among the proposals passed on Tuesday is the transfer of sanitation services, including cleaning, sweeping, washing of footpaths and desilting along 60-foot roads, to the Public Works Department (PWD). The services are currently under the MCD, while PWD is responsible for maintenance of roads. The saffron party has opposed the proposal, alleging that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) intends to turn the MCD into a department of the Delhi government.
The proposal was passed within minutes sans any discussion in the House. As many as 12 proposals were presented during the meeting which began half-an-hour past the scheduled time at 2:30 pm. As soon as the proceeding began, BJP councillors, many of them carrying placards with anti-AAP and anti-Kejriwal messages, began sloganeering in the House against Kejriwal for allegedly spending Rs 45 crore between 2020 and 2022 on the renovation of his official residence.
Oberoi asked the councillors to sit down so that agendas can be taken up but in vain. She then condemned the recent Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada and called for a two-minute silence to pay tribute to the 10 policemen and one civilian killed in the attack.Later, amid the noisy scenes, several items on the agenda of the House were passed before it was adjourned for the day. An official said 12 agendas were taken up, out of which, 10 were passed.
The AAP councillors informed the House that the agenda which dealt with toll tax was withheld because it “required some changes”.Meanwhile, BJP councillors wrote to the municipal secretary, saying “nobody knows as to what was the fate of agendas. Today’s proceedings of the House are null and void as due process was not followed”. “Today’s proceedings regarding the passing of the agendas in an illegal manner should be deleted,” the letter read.
Another proposal was related to constitution of 25 prominent committees for education, health, environment management services, licence, community halls, among others.This was the first session of the MCD House convened after AAP’s Shelly Oberoi was re-elected as Delhi mayor on April 26. Another agenda of the MCD education department is the supply and delivery of diaries and various types of exercise notebooks at the doorstep of each individual school for distribution to children. In addition to this, a proposal related to the enhancement of fund allocation and allowance and facilities for councillors was also approved.