Delhi Jal Board fund row: Finance department releases Rs 535 crore

Amid a tussle over release of funds, the Delhi government's finance department has released Rs 535 crore to the Delhi Jal Board for nearly 70 projects of the agency, officials said on Thursday.

Delhi Water Minister Atishi had last month claimed that the national capital was staring at a "man-made water crisis" due to the stoppage of funds to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) by the finance department and demanded Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena's immediate intervention.

"The file for release of funds came on December 7 and the funds were sanctioned on December 9. These are from the second installment of funds that are supposed to be released to the DJB," said a government official.

Earlier this month, DJB vice-chairman Somnath Bharti had said all maintenance and developmental works have "come to a standstill" due to the delay in disbursal of funds from the finance secretary.

"We have to release a total of Rs 2,200 crore to the Delhi Jal Board and out of that Rs 535 crore has been released. The finance department had informed the Delhi High Court about the release of funds on December 11," he added. The government official said that there are about 70 projects for which these funds have been released.

"These 70 projects have been geotagged and all their details were furnished to us. These include providing the DJB tankers for water supply and laying of sewer lines. All these project have a budget of five crore or above," he added.

He stressed that once the DJB sends files pertaining to the other projects and the department is satisfied, the funds from second installment will be released.

In May this year, the DJB received Rs 1,952 crore from the finance department as the first instalment on account basis, subject to actual implementation of projects, the progress of works on the ground and submission of utilisation certificates thereof, according to another official.

Catch the latest stock market updates here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech, sports, and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.