MCD stops all payments as Mayor yet to sign budget document

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has stopped all financial transactions as the Mayor is yet to sign the minutes of the meeting where the civic body’s annual budget was passed on March 29.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has stopped all financial transactions as the Mayor is yet to sign the minutes of the meeting where the civic body’s annual budget was passed on March 29.

A senior MCD official said the Mayor must sign the meeting minutes before the deadline of March 31, which marks the end of the last financial year.

“Currently, the MCD is functioning without an approved budget which has brought work to a standstill. We don’t know why the Mayor has not signed the minutes of the budget meeting,” the official said.

AAP’s Shelly Oberoi was elected the Mayor of the unified MCD in February this year. Her term ended on March 31. However, she will hold office till the fresh internal elections are held.

When reached for a comment, the Mayor’s office did not respond.

The civic body passed its 2023-24 budget with an outlay of ₹16,023 crore. The lion’s share of the budget — ₹4,465.85 crore — was allocated to the sanitation sector, followed by ₹2,847.82 crore for education and ₹3,335.84 crore for general administration.

An MCD official said the various departments are unable to allocate money for any work or disburse pending payments. “The payments were stopped from Wednesday under various subheads, including day-to-day work,” the MCD official added.