Arvind Kejriwal's protest at L-G's office enters Day 5; all three Delhi mayors threaten agitation over delay in release of funds

New Delhi: The three mayors of Delhi on Thursday said they would stage a protest at the doorstep of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s office if the AAP government did not release the funds “due to the civic bodies”. The mayors — Adesh Gupta (North Delhi), Narendra Chawla (South Delhi) and Bipin Bihari Singh (East Delhi) — held a joint press conference at the civic centre, at a time when Kejriwal and his three ministers continued their sit-in at the lieutenant governor’s office for the fourth day on Thursday. The AAP on Thursday attacked Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal, wondering whether he did not have even “four minutes” to meet them in the last four days. [caption id=“attachment_4364039” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. PTI[/caption] In a joint statement issued later, the three mayors said, “By not paying our dues, the Delhi government is trying to make the civic bodies financially crippled.” They alleged that this shows the intention of the Kejriwal government, which is “only interested in politics and not in the welfare of the citizens”. “If the AAP government does not release the funds due to the civic bodies, then we would stage a protest at the doorstep of Kejriwal,” the statement read. They also claimed that if the demands are not met then the corporations would file “a contempt of court suit against the Delhi government”. Giving details of the alleged due funds, Gupta said, “Rs 2,514 crore is pending under the plan head, and Rs 1,202 crore under the non-plan head, totalling Rs 3,716 crore.” Mayor South Delhi Chawla said that he had written two letters to the chief minister, in which he has asked for the “pending dues of Rs 1,532 crore towards the SDMC”. “Kejriwal is not paying the dues towards the corporation according to the recommendations of the Delhi Fourth Finance Commission, and his government has also not given funds for salaries and arrears of sanitation workers,” he alleged. Singh said the problem of funds is biggest in the EDMC which is already reeling under a huge financial crunch. Both NDMC and EDMC are cash-strapped and only SDMC has managed to stay afloat financially.