New Delhi, May 15 (IANS) Delhi Mayor Kanwar Sain Friday reviewed the progress of sewer desilting work and parking lot construction in the capital and said he would closely monitor them on a monthly basis. The Delhi government had earlier refused to sanction required funds to the capital’s civic agency as it had not met deadlines.
The Congress-led Delhi government had refused to immediately sanction an additional funds of Rs.5 billion to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on the grounds that the civic agency’s projects did not meet deadlines and existing funds lay underutilised.

The mayor, who is also the elected head of the MCD, said: “There is a dire need to complete the desilting work immediately so that MCD is ready to face pre-monsoon showers and subsequently the monsoon itself.”

Sain said he “would review the progress of the projects on a monthly basis”.

He added that the projects relating to construction of conventional and multi-level parking lots would “be taken-up on priority basis and finished in a time-bound manner”.

There are around two dozen parking lots under construction at various sites across the city - the MCD hopes to complete a majority of these ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The mayor criticised the state government for turning down the Rs.17 billion outlay, which he claimed was required “to take development in the city to the next level for the Commonwealth Games”.

“So many times projects do not take off either due to untimely disbursement of funds to MCD and at times due to clearance from various government bodies which do not come to us in time. Therefore, solely penalizing MCD without consulting us and giving us an opportunity to be heard is totally arbitrary and unfair,” Sain said.

The Delhi government had sanctioned 30 percent less and asked the MCD to spend the given amount first before asking for more funds.