MCD logjam leaves projects, civic issues stuck in limbo

The prolonged delay and multiple adjournments have led to a situation in which several policy decisions remain pending with the executive wing

New Delhi More than two months after the municipal elections were held, Delhi still does not have an elected mayor and key committees in place. The prolonged delay and multiple adjournments have led to a situation in which several policy decisions remain pending with the executive wing, while at the same time resident welfare associations (RWAs) and citizen groups are desperate for an early end to the stalemate so that they can hold their local representatives accountable for civic issues.

BJP councillors shout slogans against AAP councillors at the Civic Centre in New Delhi on February 6. (HT Photo)

MCD comprises of two wings -- a deliberative wing headed by the mayor that formulates policies and regulations, and an executive wing headed by the commissioner that implements these policies as well as obligatory functions mandated in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act. The unified MCD, however, has been under bureaucratic rule since May 22, 2022. The powers of the deliberative wing continue to remain vested in the Centre-appointed Special Officer (SO) even though the councillors have been administered oath on January 24, 2023.

A senior MCD official said that the elections to MCD were concluded on December 7, 2022 and the Special Officer is no longer taking calls on the routine police and project matters.

“Since the new set of councillors has been elected by the people, the final call on these policies and projects will be taken by the incoming MCD functionaries. We have at least two dozen major projects under consideration which will be put up before the new House of councillors. SO is only taking up matter that are urgent or have a statutory deadline,” an official from the municipal secretariat stated on condition of anonymity.

A second official added that some the key projects that will be taken up by the incoming House will include the expansion of the existing fleet of the mechanical road sweepers in the city, new waste to art theme parks, approval for adding date entry operators across department, and extensions for health care workers in municipal facilities.

“Currently, we are operating a fleet of 52 mechanical road sweepers (MRS) that cover a sweeping length of around 1,600km a day. We have proposed to hire another 16 MRS units that will significantly enhance the road-sweeping capacity and increase our daily road vacuuming capacity during the winter pollution seasons. Similarly, we currently have two waste to art theme parks in Sarai Kale Khan and Pujabi Bagh and more such parks will be set up in the form of Bharat Darshan Phase 2, Bollywood Park in East Delhi,” the official said.

Other proposals include the hiring of data entry operators across various departments to reduce the public interface time and the renewal of the contracts in health care units, he said.

RWAs remain in a fixMeanwhile, several RWA federations and citizen groups are complaining that the elections should have led to new councillors taking up matters related to solving the problems faced by the city. BS Vohra, who heads the East Delhi RWA joint front, said that MCD has been plagued by financial crunch over the last decade and the outcome of poll results led the citizens to believe that the financial crunch and salary crisis in MCD will finally end and the councillors will start working on our day-to-day civic issues.

“This should have led to end in the disagreements over various policies between the MCD and state government but nothing has moved forwards. Even our routine issues of waterlogging, broken roads and encroachment are not being addressed. The court should intervene and end this crisis,” he said.

Across the southern part of the city, Rajesh Panwar, chairman of the federation of Vasant Kunj RWAs, said that the last nine months have been a punishment for RWAs in the absence of elected councillors.

“A local councillor is much more accessible than the bureaucrats as they have political interests to remain in contact with the area population. No one has the time to visit the municipal headquarters in Civic Center to get the issues resolved. The officers are not accessible for general public,” Panwar said, adding that they were hoping that the new administration would help resolving issues related to stray dogs, pruning of overgrown trees, and damaged internal pocket roads.

In the absence of the elected wing, MCD attempted to initiate a “Jan Sunwai” (people’s court) campaign under which senior officers were asked to hold public hearing for one hour every day in the 12 administrative zones. The civic body received only 4,194 complaints over the seven months which translates to less than two complaints per zone in a day.

In run up to the elections, the umbrella body of RWAs in Delhi, URJA (United RWAs Joint Action), came up with a “People’s Manifesto” for the elections, issuing a charter of demands seeking a more “liveable, breathable and commutable” city.

Jasbir Chadda, the general secretary of URJA, said that people will only be hold elected representatives accountable once the impasse is resolved. “The system is defective but the bureaucrats are not accountable or approachable for common people. We have to jointly work at improving the system. A large number of people have participated in elections and came out to vote, and the elected wing should now be empowered to deliver on their promises,” he added.

An MCD spokesperson said that the special officer was not taking a call on the policy measures since the elected wing was expected to be in place but since the whole system was in limbo due to repeated disruptions, the special officer would soon start taking decisions on pending policy matters.