NEW DELHI: Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Wednesday said several projects of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) are stuck in limbo due to a paucity of funds with officers obstructing money to the department.
During a discussion on the shortage of funds with the DJB, the minister accused Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena of knowing about the issue and not doing anything about it.
Following his speech, Delhi Assembly Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla referred the matter of DJB’s fund shortage to the Petitions Committee and directed the committee to submit its report in a month.
AAP and BJP MLAs indulged in a war of words over DJB projects.
While AAP MLAs said that officers were not releasing funds which were hampering projects in their constituencies, BJP MLAs said that the AAP dispensation had grown a habit of blaming others for ‘its inefficiencies”.
Replying to the discussion, Bharadwaj said, “During the coronavirus pandemic, metre readers did not go and bills were not generated. In some cases, where bills were generated, they were not paid. But this time, the DJB was functioning and salaries were being paid. The recurring expenses were paid using capital money. This amounted to Rs 1,500 crore.”
