Civic officials hold protest outside Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's residence

NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP municipal councillors and mayors today held a protest outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence demanding release of funds.

Several councillors and Mayors of all three municipal corporations, Ravinder Gupta (North), Harsh Malhotra (Mayor) and Subhash Arya (South) gathered outside Kejriwal's residence and raised slogans protesting non-payment of salaries to the MCD sanitation workers who have been working on a contract for over a decade.

The Municipal sanitation workers have launched an indefinite strike since last Friday, demanding payment of long pending dues, timely payment of salaries and regular employment for those working on contract.

"Municipal Reform Fund of all three municipal corporations which is now approximately Rs 1322 crore should be released immediately as it is already allocated in the budget of Delhi government. Also, we demand release of Rs 1179 crore pending as the global share of all the three corporations," Harsh Malhotra, Mayor, East Delhi Municipal Corporation said.

The Delhi government and MCD have been embroiled in a battle over funds for the last several months with the latter demanding a bailout from the Delhi government, claiming their funds have been curtailed.

Kejriwal on Friday, in an open letter to the people, had claimed that his government was not responsible for the strike of municipal workers. Delhi government stated that it had no role in the looming garbage crisis as the municipal corporation was not under its administrative purview.