CM asks home minister to clear draft on mcd split

With municipal elections just six months away, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday asked Union home minister P Chidambaram to clear the draft bill of MCD Amendment Act, which proposes the division of the civic body into three parts.

With municipal elections just six months away, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday asked Union home minister P Chidambaram to clear the draft bill of MCD Amendment Act, which proposes the division of the civic body into three parts.

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Senior Delhi government officials said the chief minister explained to the home minister how the division of the world’s second largest civic body into smaller units was going to benefit the 17 million population of the national Capital.

“The home minister had certain queries on how the proposed Delhi Municipal Authority will establish coordination between the three civic bodies. The CM cleared all the doubts,” said a senior Delhi government official. Delhi government intends to lay the proposal in the monsoon session of the Delhi assembly, likely to take place in August this year.

Sources said Dikshit told the home minister that the government will need to follow certain procedures and to meet the monsoon session deadline, it was pertinent that the proposal is cleared by the home ministry “at the earliest”.

The MCD elections are scheduled to take place in February next year and the Delhi government is keen to hold polls for the three civic agencies in place of one. The Delhi Cabinet last month had approved a bill for division of the civic agency into three smaller bodies. The bill along with a proposal for trifurcation of the MCD was later sent to the Home Ministry for clearance.