Govt to double financial support to RWAs, NGOs

New Delhi: In a series of announcements on Sunday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Delhi government will double the financial assistance to the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and NGOs registered with the Delhi Parks and Gardens Society (DPGS) for maintenance of parks and gardens in the city from the existing Rs 1 lakh per acre to Rs 2 lakh per acre.

Addressing the interactive session with representatives of over 261 RWAs/NGOs from across Delhi at his residence, the chief minister also announced that the grant of financial assistance will now not be linked with the categorisation of colonies since it did not have any reasonable ground for restricting financial assistance based on the categorisation.

The financial assistance provided by DPGS will now be uniform at 90 per cent by the government for the registered RWAs/NGOs and the balance of 10 per cent is to be borne by the RWAs/NGOs.

The chief minister also requested the participants at the meeting to get their damaged borewells/motors repaired with government support in the next 10 days, for which they may give request letters to the DPGS. Thereafter, a uniform policy will be adopted so that the RWAs/NGOs do not face any problem.

He requested the RWAs to participate in full strength in the biggest ever plantation drive to be held in the history of Delhi next month, details of which will be announced very soon.

The DPGS provides funds as financial assistance for development and maintenance activities of parks and gardens to RWAs and other registered societies, identifies vacant spaces for taking up greening projects to increase the green cover in Delhi with active assistance and participation from the RWAs and NGOs.

In the financial year 2017-18, 261 RWAs received financial assistance to the tune of approximately Rs 1.63 crore for maintaining 1,164 parks covering around 370 acre area.

The problems indicated by the participants ranged from inadequate provision of financial assistance by DPGS, extensive and cumbersome documentation, inadequate funds for payment of wages to the gardeners.

This apart, they also spoke about the problems they face in obtaining pruning permission of the trees and plants, high cost for greening/grassing the gardens, scarcity of water, borewells requiring repairs, requirement of tree guards for protecting plantation, water harvesting, inadequacies in infrastructure in the parks requiring pathways, swings, and gyms, safety and security of visitors to the parks.