New Delhi:Delhi Health Minister Shri Satyendar Jain on Monday called upon a meeting with the three mayors of the MCDs. After the direction from Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal, the Health Minister called upon a meeting to find out a solution over the issue of non payment of salaries of the medical staff of the North-MCD run hospitals. However, the three mayors refused to show up for the meeting with Shri Satyendar Jain, thereby denying any chances of discussion or conciliation on the matter.
Today, mayors of all three BJP run MCDs protested outside the residence of CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal, over the non payment of salaries to the employees of their own hospitals, Hindu Rao and Kasturba Gandhi. The Nurses and doctors have been protesting since October 5 and have not been paid for the last four months.
Addressing the issue of the ongoing protest, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Satyendar Jain said, “I received a call from the Hon’ble CM and I immediately made it known to the Mayors that I will be expecting them at 2pm . But hours have passed since then, and they haven’t showed up. The doctors and nurses at both Hindu Rao and Kasturba Gandhi have been protesting since long. Had the mayors wanted a discussion, they would have come and we could have landed up at an effective solution to solve this impending issue."
"But they wanted to politicise the matter. In addition, the Central government allocates a budget to all the MCDs across the nation except Delhi. If they were facing trouble in running MCD, they could have asked the Central government for financial help."
Responding to the query surrounding allegations put by BJP led MCD on Delhi Government not releasing payments which has led to the void in their finances, Shri Jain said, “The expenditure done by MCD is known to all. A small example of it would be the hoardings they put in and around Delhi.
These hoardings don’t come for free. This proves that there is no dearth of funds. Putting baseless allegations on the Delhi Government for lack of funds is not justified when their management system is filled up to the brimmed with corruption. Take House tax for example. If they have to collect ?2500 crore, they will show a collection of ?1000 crore on paper and divide the remaining ?1500 crore amongst themselves. Malfunctioning in their own management system, is not reason enough for them to accuse Delhi Government for not providing funds. They need to do a better job at optimum utilisation of the budget," said Shri Jain.
The issue has been increasingly haunting the heroes of the front lines protesting since long to get their dues for providing services when the virus brought the entire nation to a standstill.
“We have given an open invitation to hand over the MCD to us. We will both, effectively and efficiently run it. We also promise that we will pay the salaries of our heroes on time. Either you function properly or you resign from the responsibility. We will do whatever is required of us, financially to make sure the doctors and nurses receive their dues at the earliest.” added Shri Jain.
The minister said that in case the mayors will go to the Central Government to request funding, they have full support of the Delhi Government in doing so. The ultimate aim is to pay the salaries due to the Corona warriors.
