Delhi Mayor Appeals to HM Shah for Dismissal of MCD Chief; BJP Labels Action 'Anarchist'

New Delhi, April 11 (NationPress) Delhi Mayor Mahesh Khichi on Friday reached out to Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting the removal of Municipal Corporation of Delhi Commissioner Ashwani Kumar due to what he termed as “arbitrary decisions”. This action was subsequently labeled as ‘anarchist’ and ‘laughable’ by the BJP.

Khichi is advocating for the dismissal of the MCD chief following his decision to impose a garbage user fee on property taxpayers and increase the commercial license fee. The BJP accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of attempting to govern Delhi through anarchic and unconstitutional methods, which they claim is now being mirrored in the civic agency.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor remarked, “The AAP government in Delhi has previously clashed with the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Secretary. Now, in the Municipal Corporation, they are at odds with the Municipal Commissioner. They have halted development work and paralyzed the Municipal Corporation over the past two years.”

Kapoor stated that the user surcharge was implemented by the Municipal Commissioner with the Mayor’s full awareness. “However, as public dissent grew, the blame has been unfairly shifted to the Commissioner,” he added.

Previously, during a joint press conference, Delhi AAP Convenor Saurabh Bharadwaj and Mayor Khichi, an AAP councillor, claimed the commissioner unilaterally decided to introduce the two new levies.

Kapoor dismissed Bharadwaj’s remarks as laughable.

He challenged Bharadwaj to explain why, if the Municipal Commissioner acted without the Mayor’s consent regarding the user surcharge, the Mayor has not issued a written order to retract it or convened a special House session to cancel it.

Bharadwaj asserted to the media that “the Mayor was not consulted by the Commissioner regarding these decisions.”

He further alleged that the Commissioner is disregarding the elected leadership in the civic agency at the behest of the BJP-led Central Government.

The MCD recently increased the fee for trade license applicants by 15 percent and implemented a compulsory garbage user fee for both residential and commercial properties for waste collection.

Bharadwaj noted that the Commissioner has failed to enact the people-friendly decisions made by the elected municipal House, which is largely composed of AAP members, to waive property tax for properties under 100 square yards and to halve taxes for properties sized between 100-500 square yards.

The former Delhi Minister stated, “The decision made by the MCD to regularize 12,000 contract employees has also not been acted upon,” alleging that the Commissioner is deliberately delaying these files.

He accused the Commissioner of advancing the BJP’s agenda within the MCD.

Bharadwaj also criticized Delhi BJP leaders for condemning the new levies imposed by the MCD, suggesting a conspiracy between the BJP and the Commissioner to enforce unpopular decisions.

Mayor Khichi expressed his concerns that the Commissioner has overlooked the letters he has sent protesting the new levies.

“Delhi residents are already overwhelmed with taxes, and now they are facing additional charges,” he stated.

He claimed that since the BJP assumed power in Delhi, citizens have been increasingly burdened with new taxes.

Khichi concluded that voters in the city have been deceived by the BJP, which has chosen to impose new taxes instead of alleviating living costs.