AAP candidates won't be allowed to enter villages in LS, assembly elections: Delhi villagers body

New Delhi: A villagers body on Monday accused the MCD of not consulting them on preparing the budget and said the AAP candidates will not be allowed to enter the villages in the upcoming general and assembly elections.

A group of people under the banner of Delhi Panchayat Sangh, an umbrella body representing 360 villages in Delhi, pasted a memorandum at the MCD headquarters here for not consulting them on preparing the budget 2024-25 as promised by the corporation.

They also protested against Mayor Shelly Oberoi for not taking suggestions by the rural bodies to prepare the budget slated to be presented in the House on February 8.

It claimed that the mayor did not give time to meet the leaders of the villages when approached on Monday.

"The mayor's neglect of the villagers will not be tolerated and the Aam Aadmi Party should be ready to bear the brunt of it. Aam Aadmi Party candidates will not be allowed to enter the villages in the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections," the body said in a statement.

The villagers body said that the corporation did not take opinion from the residents of not even one of the 360 villages of Delhi.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had on December 8 last year announced that it would take public suggestion over a period of two months to prepare the final budget.

The mayor had said that the corporation would hold about 100 to 150 meetings with the general public, market associations, RWAs, traders and other stakeholders to take their opinion before finalising the budget.

No immediate response on the claim was available by the mayor's office.

Under the memorandum pasted at the MCD office here, the Panchayat Sangh demanded to exempt house tax in Lal Dora and extended Lal Dora areas of all urbanised and rural villages, exempt commercial activities from conversion charges and parking charges, exempt from building bye-laws and to give relief to the properties booked on the allegation of illegality.

The villagers body has also demanded to de-seal the premises sealed in various cases and provide reservation in different types of jobs.