Presenting the Revised Budget Estimates for 1998-99 and the Budget Estimates for 1999-2000 in the house today, Desai warned that if the state or the central government interfered in the MCD's functioning, they would approach the courts to safeguard their rights.

Blaming Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Finance Minister Mahender Singh Saathi for creating friction between the Congress government and the BJP-dominated corporation, Desai said that the proposal to recover Rs 228 crore in one year would lead to a payment crisis in the MCD.

Accusing Saathi of being motivated by political reasons, Desai said that Saathi, who had been the Mayor for seven years, was well aware that this would serve as a body blow to the MCD. ``When the Congress MLAs Deep Chand Badhu, Deep Chand Sharma, MP Jai Prakash Agarwal and Saathi were councillors, they repeatedly asked the Delhi government to convert these plan loans into grants. However, now that they have come into power, they have done a complete turn-around,'' he pointed out.

Miffed at the state government's attitude, he said that they had decided that they would not take any loan from the Delhi government. He also said that they would start making serious efforts to recover the property tax due to them from residents as well as government agencies to pay off their loans.

Refusing to carry the additional burden of all the people who came in from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and settled down here, he said that these states should contribute to the MCD. He also said that even though the Delhi Finance Commission has recommended that the state government give 60 per cent grants, they only gave 50 per cent. He said that he had met the Home Minister L.K. Advani and requested that the Delhi government give as much grant as recommended by the Delhi Finance Commission.

Desai said that he had also asked Advani to amend the DMC Act so that the MCD could recruit school teachers itself. He said that the Delhi government's decision to scrap the recruitment process had affected MCD schools, which already had a shortage of teachers. He also demanded that the distribution of water and electricity as well as street lighting be transferred to the MCD and two members of the MCD be nominated to the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB). He also felt that the Special Task Force (STF) constituted especially to remove encroachments, should also have representatives from the MCD. He said that on the one hand, the MCD had decided not to demolish unauthorised constructions till the second part of the Vijay Kumar Malhotra Committee report was submitted, on the other hand, the STF was going ahead with the demolitions.

Desai also demanded that the colony hospitals be handed back to the MCD and admitted that it was a `mistake' on the part of the BJP government to take them over. He said that they had kept a provision of Rs three crore in the budget to improve the facilities at these hospitals.