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BJP asks MCD to repay high-interest loans

Staff Reporter

`Borrow from financial institutions on lower rates'

NEW DELHI: Criticising the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's Revised Budget Estimates for 2005-06 and Budget Estimates for 2006-07 presented by Municipal Commissioner A.K. Nigam on December 6, Bharatiya Janata Party councillor and Standing Committee member Vijender Gupta on Thursday demanded that the civic body repay all its high-interest loans taken from the Delhi Government and borrow money from financial institutions on lower rate of interest.

"The Congress leadership in the MCD is ignoring the interests of the people of Delhi by succumbing to the pressure from the State Government. The MCD has to pay over Rs.250 crores as interest on loans taken from the Delhi Government at a high interest rate of 11-13 per cent, while financial institutions are offering money at cheaper rate of interest. The MCD should immediately repay all its loans taken from the Delhi Government and instead switch over to other institutions so that crores of rupees could be saved for development works," he suggested.

Delivering the Budget initiation speech at the Standing Committee meeting, Mr. Gupta alleged that the Delhi Government never assisted the MCD financially, a proof of which was the conversion of its grants worth around Rs.44 crores for rural development into loans on which higher interest rate was being charged. Similarly, the Delhi Government was getting bigger share of property transfer money compared to the civic body that should be immediately stopped, he demanded.

Terming the Budget Proposals as fictitious that contain highly inflated projections regarding revenue collection, the senior BJP councillor said if the estimates were not revised and made more realistic, it would lead to financial crisis in the civic body.

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