In October last year, the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had announced that it was going to be the first agency to hike the salaries of its employees as per the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.

Five months down the line, the civic body employees are still waiting for their benefits.

Till now, only Category-D employees comprising sweepers, labourers and gardeners have received salaries and arrears as per the pay panel’s recommendations.

The MCD has already spent a sum of Rs 170 crore on arrears, while another Rs 230 crores has to be spent to meet the entire deficit. Due to the non-availability of funds, however, payments are being delayed. The annual expenditure of the MCD has increased by Rs 1000 crore after the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations.

“We do not have sufficient funds to pay the arrears. It has thus been decided that these payments will be done in phases,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.

The MCD Leader of Opposition J K Sharma, however, alleged that the BJP-led civic body has paid arrears only to those employees who form a potential vote bank.

“We do not have sufficient funds for payment of arrears. All big projects are on hold and there are no new channels for generating revenue. The BJP has played votebank politics and has paid arrears only to a particular section,” said Sharma.

MCD Standing Committee chairman Vijender Gupta, however, denied that funds were not available. “We have sufficient funds and we have already raised employees’ salaries as per the pay commission’s recommendations. Required paperwork for paying arrears is currently in progress and we would be paying the pending arrears soon,” said Gupta.