NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said it is shameful that doctors of MCD-run hospitals are forced to protest over salary dues and requested the Centre to grant funds to municipal corporations so that their paychecks can be issued.
Several doctors in hospitals run by the North MCD have claimed they have not been paid in three months and have been protesting for the last two weeks. Kejriwal also alleged gross mismanagement and corruption in the functioning of the MCDs and said it was time things were set right.
There was no immediate reaction available from the North MCD.
"It pains me that our doctors have to protest for their salaries. These doctors risked their lives to serve us during the pandemic. This is shameful," the CM said while inaugurating a waste-to-energy plant at the Ghazipur poultry and fish market.
"We have been witnessing that civic bodies have not been able to pay salaries of teachers, sanitation workers and doctors over the years. Why is there such an acute shortage of funds in MCDs?" he asked.
"We have released more funds to the MCDs as compared to previous governments. We have given them more than their due," he said.
Kejriwal said there should be no politics over the issue of doctors' salaries and everybody should make efforts to ensure they get their paychecks.
He claimed that the Centre has been "providing grants to municipal corporations across the country, barring Delhi".
"I request the Centre to give funds to MCDs so that they release salaries of doctors," the CM said.
The pandemic has hit the tax collection of the Delhi government. Still, it has been managing affairs properly and releasing salaries of its doctors and teachers, he said.
"If we had the funds, I would have given the salaries of doctors of MCD-run hospitals today itself doesn't matter if it was as per the Constitution or not," he said.