MCD welcomes CAG audit on dengue preparedness

The three BJP-ruled municipal corporations have welcomed the decision to hold a CAG audit of the preparedness of Delhi government and the local bodies to deal with dengue crisis in the city.
Chairman of standing committee of North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mohan Prasad Bhardwaj, welcoming the decision today, however, said, "the audit should also include non release of Rs 700 crore funds for municipal corporations as recommended by the Delhi Fourth Finance Commission and the specified funds for anti-Malaria operations during the current year by the Delhi government."
All three corporations have been alleging that Delhi government has not released enough funds to the civic bodies, while AAP dispensation have blamed the MCD for the dengue crisis the city is currently battling.

"AAP government is not coming forward with the actual release of funds to the corporation. Against the allotted funds of Rs 37 crore only Rs 9 crores were released, that too, after great persuasion," he claimed.
"The claim of the state government that it has released 75 percent funds earmarked to the MCD for fighting mosquito menace is nothing but a political jugglery to keep its failures under wrap," he alleged.
South Delhi Municipal Corporation received Rs 14 crore out of a total budget of Rs 28.40 crore to fight the mosquito menace as late as September 25, while Delhi government has claimed in the court that it has released 75 per cent of the earmarked funds, said Radhe Shyam Sharma, chairman of Standing committee of SDMC.

"We have so far received only 50 percent funds. Earlier, Delhi government had issued a circular on September 9 about release of 25 percent of the funds, Rs 7 crore, which we never received," he said.

"We had demanded Rs 20 crore from the Delhi government as early as July to fight the mosquito menace but our demand was turned down. Now we have just received a slip of Rs 7.95 crore which is yet to be credited to our account," East Delhi Municipal Corporation chairman Lata Gupta claimed.
The CAG audit will scrutinise the preventive steps which had been taken by the Delhi government and civic authorities -- the New Delhi Municipal Council and the three municipal corporations -- to deal with mosquito-borne diseases, sources said.

Nearly 1,700 fresh dengue cases have been reported in the city in the last one week, taking the total number of people affected by the vector-borne disease to 5,471. Close to 30 people have died due to dengue this year.