Ward reps appointed as Delhi’s unified MCD takes shape

Under an elected House, the municipal councillor would have been the primary interface for resolution of complaints besides the municipal helplines.

With the affairs of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) being managed by bureaucrats till an elected House takes oath, municipal commissioner Gyanesh Bharti has asked additional commissioners, zonal deputy commissioners and departmental heads to undertake daily field visits to address grievances related to civic issues in the absence of ward councillors.

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Under an elected House, the municipal councillor would have been the primary interface for resolution of complaints besides the municipal helplines. Now, in their absence, senior officials have been asked to oversee grievances related to sweeping of roads, lifting of waste, municipal schools, health units, parks and community halls.

A senior municipal official said one nodal officer is being appointed in each ward for grievance resolution. “We are also updating our 311 application and expanding our social media response mechanism so that complaints filed on social media are logged and acted upon,” the official said, asking not to be named.

The civic body is expected to operate under executive control till the boundaries of new wards are constituted by reducing the existing number of wards from 272 to 250 , after which elections will he held and the new House of councillors constituted.

Experts have stated that the delimitation of wards may take anywhere between six to 18 months.The last delimitation exercise for municipal wards was concluded in January 2017 and the overall process took around 16 months.

The former municipal councillors, meanwhile, said they continue to receive a large number of complaints but have no official medium to bring them to the attention of the civic administration. Ved Pal, former councillor from Aya Nagar ward, said the nodal officer has been appointed for each ward but the official should be a senior grade official. “A councillor gets 50-60 complaints daily and we used to convey them to higher ups. Junior officials will not be able to resolve these complaints,” he said.

Uniformity in regulations and 100-day action plans

Each head of the department has also been asked to initiate the process of bringing about uniformity in regulations -- the three erstwhile corporations each had their own set of rules and regulations -- and submit a three-month and six-month action plan. “HODs will hold review meetings with the officials from erstwhile three municipal corporations and wherever there is a difference in regulations, the matter will be put up to bring uniformity immediately. Heads of departments will prepare three month and six month action plan which needs to be submitted by June 3 2022,” Bharti said in his order.

Every revenue generation department, including public health, accessor and collectors, and advertisement, among others, have also been directed to submit a new action plan on filling the coffers of the unified body.

The employees from erstwhile north and east municipal corporations will continue to face salary delays of up to four months even under the unified MCD, officials said. Delhi Nagar Nigam Mazdoor Federation, a union of sanitation workers undertook a protest at the Civic Centre on Thursday, seeking the release of salary arrears.

Randhir Gagat, who heads the union, said symbolic protests will be carried out at the municipal headquarters till all salary dues are cleared.