New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) Leader of Opposition in the assembly Vijender Gupta on Wednesday alleged that the Delhi government was not preparing the balance sheets of the DJB to hide “financial irregularities” in city’s waterworks agency.
No immediate reaction from the DJB or ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was available on the charges made by Gupta.
Citing a report by the Delhi chief secretary, Gupta, addressing a press conference, accused the AAP government of trying to evade scrutiny by the CAG.
The leader of opposition alleged that the chief secretary’s report on “irregularities” in the DJB was suppressed by the minister concerned, and demanded a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) probe into the expenditure of Rs 28,400 crore received by the DJB since 2015-16.
Dismissing allegations by AAP ministers that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) was deprived of funds, the BJP leader, referring to the report, claimed that budgetary allocations were not fully utilised even though people were suffering due to issues of water supply and sewerage.
As per the report, the DJB, which manages the water supply and sewerage system of the city, has expressed its inability to repay loans worth over Rs 73,000 crore, he claimed.
The chief secretary’s report pointed out that due to “rampant corruption”, the balance sheets of the DJB for 2021-22 and 2022-23 have not been prepared, which has prevented the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) from conducting an audit, he said.
The report was presented by the chief secretary on March 15 this year after a resolution was passed in the assembly on DJB. It was, however, kept hidden and a copy was not given to opposition MLAs, Gupta claimed.
“The current water minister Atishi often complains about not receiving funds, but the reality is that the Delhi Jal Board is not utilising the funds allocated to it in the budget,” Gupta said.
In 2021-22 budget, an allocation of Rs 3,271 crore was made for the DJB but Rs 210 crore out of this amount remained unspent. Similarly, in the 2022 budget, a provision of Rs 7,607 crore was made, but Rs 3,035 crore of this amount could not be utilised, he claimed.
BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Anil Vajpai, Ajay Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Jitendra Mahajan, Om Prakash Sharma were also present at the press conference. PTI VIT VIT SKY SKY
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