INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: Slamming the Delhi government for refusing to provide funds for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS (Regional Rapid Transit System - now called
RAPIDX), project due to financial crunch, the Supreme Court on Monday directed it to furnish a detailed account of how much it spent on
advertisements in the last three fiscal years.The SC expressed displeasure that while the Kejriwal government did not provide funds for the
crucial transport project, it had spent money on publicity
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia made it clear that the court will examine the expenditure.Centre not sharing GST
collections, says Delhi govt in SC; BJP hits backA Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia made it clear
that the court would examine the expenditure incurred by the Delhi government on advertisements if it did not resile from the stand it had
taken at the outset of hearing not to fund the RAPIDX (earlier called RRTS) project
The bench said normally courts didn't interfere in matters involving finances, but considering that RAPIDX was a development project, it had
decided to get into where the government funds were being used
The court said that it would not shy away from directing the government to divert funds for the project.The counsel for the Delhi government
accused the Centre of not sharing funds from GST collections and told the court that it had expressed inability to provide funds in 2020
She said the Delhi government faced financial problems that became worse during the Covid pandemic and there were no funds left to infuse
into the RAPIDX project.The bench then directed the government to furnish details of its advertisement expenditure in the last three
financial years within two weeks
"This is a development project
Though financial aspects we leave to the state government but for a project of this nature when you say no funds, we want to know how much
you have spent on something like advertisement," the bench observed."Since paucity of funds seems to be an impediment in the project, we
call upon the government of NCT of Delhi to file an affidavit setting forth the funds utilised for advertisements as the project is of
Details be furnished for the last three financial years," the court said in its order.Reacting to the Delhi government's submission in the
court, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sacheva said the rapid rail project would immensely benefit the trans-Yamuna area, but the AAP government
was still delaying it."The Delhi government did not give its 20% contribution in the Pragati Maidan tunnel project
Similarly, it did not give the money to build the flyover connecting the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway
The fourth phase of Metro is also delayed due to non-disbursement of funds
Where did the crores of rupees given by the Centre for the cleaning of Yamuna go?" Sachdeva said, adding the AAP government must inform how
much money it collected as environment cess and where all it was spent.There are three RAPIDX projects to connect Delhi with Meerut, Alwar
The 82-km Delhi-Meerut corridor with 24 stations will cover the distance from Sarai Kale Khan (Delhi) to Modipuram (Meerut) in 60 minutes
The total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 31,632 crore
The Centre and UP government have credited their share and Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide the debt part
The contribution of the Centre for the project is Rs 5,687 crore, Uttar Pradesh at Rs 5,828 crore and Delhi government at Rs 1,138 crore.As
the project is getting delayed because of Delhi not releasing its share of funds, the apex court had in April allowed it to use Rs 500 crore
out of Environment Compensation Charge funds for the corridor but asked the government to make budgetary allocations for the project and not
to be dependent on the ECC
The remaining amount to be paid by Delhi is Rs 415 crore
Earlier, the Centre and Delhi government were at loggerheads with the latter insisting that the Centre should bear the cost
But the apex court had held that the Delhi government was duty-bound to contribute its share in the Delhi-Meerut corridor
