North corp writes to Delhi govt, asks for ₹385 crore first quarter tax dues

A day after resident doctors at Bara Hindu Rao Hospital declared a pen-down strike over alleged delay in salary, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation Friday wrote to the Delhi government to provide it the first quarter of its tax dues — ₹385.60 crore — immediately as it is facing a financial crisis.

Notably, the north body owns Bara Hindu Rao Hospital. The resident doctors at the hospital have alleged that they have not been paid salaries since March.

The civic body officials said that the money should have come in April. As per the Non-Plan Budget provisions for financial year 2019-2020 allocated by the Delhi government to the north corporation, they are accorded ₹1,542.40 crore in total. The first quarter amount of this is ₹385.60 crore that should have come by now, officials said.

As per rules, the first instalment is 25% of the sanctioned annual tax share and comes in the beginning of the year. The second is 50% of the amount and comes in September. The third instalment is the remaining 25% that comes in March the next year.

The north civic body’s leader of house, Tilak Raj Kataria, wrote a letter to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in this regard. “As you are well aware of the financial position of the north MCD, we require immediate financial assistance from the Delhi government to pay the salary of the staff and other statutory obligations as per the provisions of the DMC Act,” the letter says.

“The immediate release against the 1st quarter Non-Plan Grant in Aid claims for the current year 2019-20 is requested as the corporation is yet to pay salary to its teachers, safai karmcharis, doctors/nurses and other staff for the months of March and April 2019, besides the pension of the retired employees,” it says.

There was no response from the Delhi government despite repeated calls and text messages.

The monthly salary bill of the north corporation amounts to around ₹300 crore. Its budget deficit is ₹5,200 crore.