Commissioner Skips Meet Despite Prior Notice: Mahesh Khichi

NEW DELHI, 16 APRIL 2025: The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) campaign to push through key civic reforms in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Mayor Mahesh Kumar Khichi, Leader of the House Mukesh Goel, and all AAP councillors marched to the office of MCD Commissioner Ashwini Kumar on Wednesday—only to find him conveniently absent. The Commissioner reportedly left citing a court hearing, prompting AAP councillors to stage a prolonged sit-in inside his office, demanding accountability on the House-passed proposals for house tax exemption and regularisation of 12,000 temporary workers. Their protest ended with sloganeering, as the top civic bureaucrat did not return.

Mayor Mahesh Kumar stated that MCD Commissioner Ashwini Kumar deliberately avoided a scheduled meeting with AAP councillors, who had come to his office to raise critical civic issues including the regularisation of 12,000 contractual workers and house tax relief. “Despite prior intimation, the Commissioner left the office on the pretext of attending an NGT event before the councillors arrived,” he added.

The Delhi Mayor pointed out, “The MCD had passed two important resolutions — one for providing relief in house tax to Delhi’s residents and the other for regularising 12,000 contractual employees of the Corporation. These proposals have not been implemented till now. We had gone to meet the Commissioner to demand their immediate execution. But instead of facing us, he made an excuse and fled from his office.”

He further added that without consulting the Mayor or passing any resolution in the House, the MCD Commissioner unilaterally imposed additional user charges on Delhi’s residents. “The Aam Aadmi Party strongly opposes this unjust decision. We demand the immediate withdrawal of these user charges, which have been arbitrarily imposed without public consultation,” he added.

Mahesh Kumar Khichi asserted that the imposition of user charges has increased the financial burden on citizens who are already reeling under inflation and excessive taxation. “Despite the economic hardships being faced by the common man, the MCD has now clubbed these user charges with house tax. We demand that user charges be delinked from house tax immediately. This is an unjustified burden on the people of Delhi, and it must be rolled back without delay.”

The Mayor revealed that AAP councillors met BJP councillors earlier in the day and invited them to join the meeting with the Commissioner to jointly demand the scrapping of user charges. “However, the truth is, it was the BJP that imposed user charges on the people of Delhi in 2016. Today, they are pretending to oppose what they themselves enforced. The public is not blind — they know that it is the BJP that forced these charges on them.”

Mayor Mahesh Kumar Khichi concluded by saying, “The Commissioner’s actions are clearly being dictated by the BJP in a bid to tarnish the image of the Aam Aadmi Party. But Delhi’s people are aware and they know exactly who is responsible for this burden.”