Delay in fund disbursal halted all maintenance, developmental works of DJB, says Somnath Bharti

Delhi Jal Board Vice-Chairman Somnath Bharti Friday said all maintenance and developmental works of DJB have "come to a standstill" due to the delay in disbursal of funds from the finance secretary.

In an interview with PTI, he said that since maintenance work happens every day and DJB contractors have gone on strike due to non-payment of dues, the work of the jal board has been "suffering".

The Delhi Jal Board contractors' association has been on strike since November 27 over non-payment of dues, with its general secretary Vinay Mangla claiming that around 1,150 contractors have halted their work until payments are made to everyone.

Bharti said, "Multiple projects are underway and contractors haven't been paid since February. Maintenance work, including cleaning of contamination, and repairing or replacing pipelines, happens every other day in Delhi. All maintenance and developmental works of DJB have come to a standstill due to delay in disbursal of funds."

He said that as a plea was filed in the matter in the Delhi High Court, the finance secretary was asked by one of the judges to file a personal affidavit about the issue.

"The problem with the finance department is that they don't tell us the problems in one go. Hence, the contractors were bound to move the Delhi High Court. During the hearing, one of the judges said that let the finance secretary file a personal affidavit and hence now we are expecting that the funds might get released by tomorrow. But unless it comes, we are uncertain," the DJB vice-chairman told PTI.

Speaking about the projects and work that have been affected due to delay in disbursal of funds, Bharti said water supply in slum areas and JJ clusters, and other maintenance projects have been hit.

"Whatever issues were raised by the finance secretary, we have been working on it diligently. It is the Delhi assembly that sanctions the budget, so it has to be released. The question here is, who runs the government? Is it the finance secretary or the chief minister?" he posed.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that his government has ordered an audit of the Delhi Jal Board's records of the last 15 years by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to ascertain if there have been any irregularities.

The Delhi BJP, however, claimed the Kejriwal government was rattled after it levelled allegations of irregularities in the DJB and said it would continue to "expose corruption" by Aam Aadmi Party leaders.

Lashing out at the BJP, Bharti alleged that false information about the Delhi government was being circulated by officers.

"Selective information about our administration gets leaked out to the BJP. How do they get hold of it? What source do they have? The L-G office is doing it. The officers are spreading false information. They (BJP) have central agencies, why don't they investigate the irregularities rather than doing politics over it?" Bharti told PTI.

"They should also do a CAG audit of 15 years of the Delhi Police," he added.

Bharti said that the issues that were flagged by the finance department earlier, were resolved by the DJB timely. He further said that the funds to DJB were sanctioned during the assembly session and "cannot be withheld."

"Whatever issues were raised by the finance secretary, we worked on it diligently. Delhi Jal board is not going anywhere. So by withholding money which should've been released much earlier, the BJP is only trying to cause distress to the citizens of Delhi," the DJB vice chairman alleged.