Vijender Gupta, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly, on Wednesday accused the Aam Aadmi Party-led government in the Capital of not providing its share of funds for central government projects designed to benefit the people of Delhi during the final day of the winter session of the Delhi Assembly.
Gupta cited a letter sent by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to the Delhi chief secretary on November 20. He stated that the letter requested the Delhi government to release Rs 7,000 crore for the Aerocity to Tughlakabad, RK Ashram to Janakpuri (West), and Mukundpur to Maujpur corridors under Phase IV of the metro project.
In the letter, Vikas Kumar, managing director of the DMRC wrote, “The Phase-IV Project work is in full swing and to complete the project in time, continuous flow of funds is essential. Thus, it is earnestly requested that the funds sought under Revised Budget Estimates (RE 2024-25) for Phase-IV Project including balance three corridors, increased completion cost of Phase-Ill project and long pending reimbursement of operating loss may please be sanctioned and approval of Delhi Cabinet may also be accorded, if required, so that the funds can be released to the DMRC smoothly. Your kind intervention in this matter is earnestly solicited to ensure the timely release of the necessary funds, which are crucial for the successful execution of the Phase-IV project and addressing the associated financial obligations. If these are not made available timely, the execution of Phase-IV would be delayed leading to cost overrun,†the letter read.
However, Gupta alleged that while the Delhi government increased revenue expenditures in its revised budget estimates, it ignored the DMRC’s request and did not allocate the required funds in the revised budget sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The LoP claimed that this indicates the AAP government does not want to provide the metro connectivity under Phase IV to Delhi residents and is deliberately obstructing the project.
The BJP MLA further highlighted that the Delhi government has also failed to contribute its share of funds for the Eastern Peripheral Road being constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Rapid Rail Project by the NCRTC.
