Cong accuses BJP-ruled civic bodies of Rs 3,000 cr 'scam'

The Delhi Congress Wednesday alleged "misuse" and "diversion" of over Rs 3,000 crore earned through conversion and parking charges by the three BJP-ruled municipal corporations of the city, even as it demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter.

Rejecting the charges, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said the civic body has been making use of the collected amount for development works.

The three municipal corporations -- North, South and East Corporations -- ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in past many years have collected money from conversion and parking charges. They have either "misused" or "diverted" it under other heads, Delhi Congress leader Mukesh Sharma alleged.

"Since 2012 till now, an amount of Rs 3,084.03 crore was collected by the municipal corporations as conversion and parking charges, but instead of using it for coming up with multi-storey parking, the money was misused or diverted by the nexus of BJP leaders and officials," he said in a press briefing.

Sharma said the corporations "failed" to issue tender not even for one of the 13 proposed multi-storey parking facilities that were to be developed from the parking and conversion charges.

"It also points to how protection is given to the parking mafia operating rampantly in the city. The multi-storey parking not only helps remove traffic jams, but also check the parking mafia. But the BJP-ruled corporations never allowed the multi-storey parking to come up in the city," he said.

Leader of House in SDMC Kamaljeet Sehrawat said, "The money has been in safe hands".

"The money collected has been duly used for making parking lots in last several years, in areas like Hauz Khas, Subhash Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Munirka; and other facilities will come up as and when the projects get cleared," she said.

Chairperson of the SDMC's standing committee Shikha Rai said, "The money has not gone anywhere". She accused the Congress of "playing politics to hide their own failures".

The Congress leader also alleged that all the three corporations, first resorted to "illegal sealing" and then "de-sealed some of the sealed properties after collecting bribes".

He demanded registration of FIR against those responsible for the "scam".

Rai and Sehrawat, however, rubbished the allegation, saying all due process has been followed.

"If someone has paid the conversion charge and did all what was required as per the norm, what is wrong if their properties were de-sealed? SDMC has followed all the procedures in the process," Rai countered.