Councillor nod to book community hall may be past

To break the councillors’ monopoly, the Delhi govt has issued showcause notice to all three corporations, asking them to explain why condition should not be made ‘unnecessary’. Neelam Pandey reports.

Soon, getting a community centre or park for a function will not mean endless rounds of the municipal councillor’s office, whose permission is currently required to make a booking.

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To break the councillors’ monopoly, the Delhi government has issued showcause notice to all three corporations, asking them to explain why this condition should not be made ‘unnecessary’.

Sources said that while one of the corporations has already sent its reply, the remaining two are yet to respond. Officials said that Lt-Governor is expected to issue directions to the civic agencies to make this clause unnecessary.

“After the notice, a file was sent to the L-G in this matter. A meeting was held on this issue and we are expecting that the L-G will issue directions to make this clause unnecessary,” said a senior official.

There have been allegations of many councillors being hand-in-glove with the tent mafia. “Other agencies such as the Delhi Development Authority or New Delhi Municipal Council have a system in place in which people can either apply online or directly approach the department concerned. Why should the three corporations be any different?” added the official.

The corporation maintains that the government is trying to interfere in its functioning. “We are able to interact with people when they come to us. Before this happened, the tent mafia had taken over the community centres, which is why No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from councillors were made mandatory. If people do not have any problems with this system, why should the Delhi government interfere?” said Mahender Nagpal, leader of the north corporation.

There are 208 community centres in the city and 100 odd parks open for public bookings.