Millenium Post | 13 September 2016
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), the flagship project of the Centre received a cold shoulder by the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs) as almost the entire fund allocated to them under the mission remains unutilised.
However, DUSIB (Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board) — the agency of the Delhi government expended majority of its allocation and contributed the lion’s share in implementation of the project in the Capital.
Delhi is to be allocated a total of Rs 360.01 crore over the Mission Period (October 2014-19). Out of this total amount, Rs 10.25 crore will be retained by the Central government.
The remaining Rs 349.79 crore will be allocated to Delhi in installments. In the first installment (2014-15), Delhi was allocated Rs 8.05 crore. In the second (2015-16), the national Capital got Rs 96.7 crore. During the first two years, Delhi was classified as a ‘state’ under the Mission fund-sharing pattern and was obliged to contribute Rs 34.85 crore to the SBM effort.
However, from 2016 onwards, Delhi has been re-classified as a Union Territory and is no longer obliged to contribute funds. As a result, Delhi has received a total of Rs 139.60 crore under the Mission.
According to the report for the financial year 2015-16, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD) received Rs 46.28 crore under the SBM.
Currently, the entire corpus of these funds lies unutilised. Out of the Rs 31.63 crore received by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), only 0.25 per cent (or Rs 7.93 lakh) has been spent. However, the DSUIB has re-allocated funds worth Rs 51 crore by transferring them from the ULBs, nearly 36.5 per cent of the total money allocated till May this year.
Since the beginning of the Mission, no “household toilets” have been constructed (as against a target of 30,107 by March 31, 2016).
Delhi was supposed to build 1,982 Community Toilets by the end of the Mission Period, but it has far exceeded this target by building 4,656 Community Toilets (the numbers are in terms of toilet seats, and not complexes). However, a majority of these Community Toilets have been constructed by DUSIB.
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