Centre has money for rich but not for sanitation staff: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday slammed the Central government for not releasing money for the striking sanitation workers of Delhi, saying it would have "immediately waived the loans of the rich".

"It is really sad. Today, they (the Centre) would have immediately waived the loans of rich, but they are not giving any money for the poor sanitation workers," Kejriwal wrote in a tweet.

His reaction came after some media reports said that the Central government has refused to release money for Delhi's sanitation workers.

Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Atishi and Dilip Pandey also flayed the Centre and Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Manoj Tiwari for "not being serious enough" to the cause of sanitation workers.

They asked why the streets of national capital are filled with garbage despite the Delhi government releasing money for the municipal corporations (MCD) on time.

"The people of East Delhi are suffering from litter due to the failures of the BJP-ruled municipal corporation. People can't go out of their homes. There is a misunderstanding among the public that the money is not getting released because of the Delhi government," Atishi told reporters here.

In 2016-17, Atishi said, the AAP government had given the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) Rs 948 crore. "For this financial year, the Delhi government has already given EDMC Rs 772 crore," she said.

"The AAP government is paying a lot more to MCD as compared to previous governments... Where is the money going?" she asked.