NDMC works feel the brunt of missing top leadership

proposals for amendment to recruitment rules, hiring private parking operators for 149 parking sites in New Delhi, JPN library project, veterinary hospital, and Shivaji stadium redevelopment are among pending works

New Delhi

The tenure of the contractor for managing parking lots ended but a new one is yet to be appointed due to missing top leadership. In such a scenario, 149 parking sites are being operated by NDMC itself, officials said. (HT Archive)

Vacancies and a lack of permanent appointments to top posts of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is starting to affect policies and works in Lutyens Delhi, officials aware of the matter said, emphasising that the council is currently operating without a permanent chairperson, vice-chair, four nominated members and multiple directors.

An NDMC official, on condition of anonymity, said that the former Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar was provided additional charge of NDMC on June 19 after the transfer of Amit Yadav, who was appointed the secretary of the social justice department.

“NDMC council is headed by a chairperson who acts like the CEO of the local body. The tenure of Naresh Kumar, who was also looking after the matters with additional charge, ended on August 18. Since then, the chairperson has not been appointed and MCD commissioner Ashwini Kumar has been appointed a link officer. No council meeting has been held since Naresh Kumar stepped down,” the official said.

A second official, requesting not to be named, said works were being affected as there has been no council meeting in around a month-and-a-half.

“Many projects are pending for approval as council meeting has not been held. These include proposals for amendment to recruitment rules, hiring private parking operators for 149 parking sites in New Delhi, JPN library project, veterinary hospital, and Shivaji stadium redevelopment, among others. The chairperson clears all policy and financial matters. Projects costing less than ₹4 crore can be cleared at the level of chairperson while bigger projects need council approval,” the official said.

A third official said that operations were further affected when the tenure of vice-chairperson Satish Upadhyay ended on September 17, but no fresh appointment has been made.“The Union ministry of home affairs on September 17 reconstituted the NDMC, naming seven of its 13 members, but the four nominated member posts, comprising the vice-chair are still vacant,” the official said.

Members appointed to the council include elected political leaders Arvind Kejriwal (New Delhi MLA), Bansuri Swaraj (New Delhi MP) and Virender Singh Kadiyan (Delhi Cantt MLA), and bureaucrats — additional secretary (UT) from MHA Ashutosh Agnihotri, additional secretary from ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) Surendra Kumar Bagde, MoHUA joint secretary Ravi Kumar Arora and Delhi government secretary Niharika Rai.

The third official said that similar large-scale vacancies lie in bureaucratic set-up as well. “All four posts of chief engineers are lying vacant, along with three posts of directors and several other senior officials,” the official said.

Officials said that the contract of NDMC’s private parking operator also ended in August. “In such a situation, 149 parking sites are being operated by NDMC itself. While the report of the consultant appointed by NDMC for this has to be presented before the council, tenders will be invited only when the council approves the new parking operation policy,” the second official said.

The second official said that in the absence of a council meeting, the pace of work has slowed and monitoring may be affected. “Sometimes, it can be a simple approval for finishing work and inauguration of a project,” the official said.

Gopal Krishna, who heads the New Delhi RWA federation, and has been staying in New Delhi since 1974, said that the condition of NDMC has also degraded on the lines of the MCD. “It is horrible. Earlier, you could not associate delayed response or poor maintenance with NDMC areas, but today, there is no one to hear us as we don’t have elected councillors. By-lanes have not been cleared, potholes are simply filled with debris and there is lack of regular maintenance. Absence of top officials has exacerbated the issue.”

The spokesperson for NDMC did not comment on the matter.