Don’t split the municipal corporation right away: BJP

Two days after coming to power in the trifurcated civic agencies — north, south and east — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) should remain a unified body for the time being. HT reports.

Two days after coming to power in the trifurcated civic agencies — north, south and east — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) should remain a unified body for the time being.

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Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta has written to home minister P Chidambaram, asking him to allow the MCD to function as a single entity till clear-cut policies, directions, rules and regulations are prepared.

In his letter, in which he has also requested a meeting with the minister, Gupta said the division had been made in a rush and proper policies not framed, which would lead to chaos.

“The common man will suffer because of the lack of proper rules and regulations. They will have no idea where to go to get their work done. Also, development work such as parking projects, construction of pedestrian pathways, etc., will suffer,” Gupta said.

Former mayor Rajni Abbi supported the demand and said the new corporations would not be able to sustain financially. “They will start with a deficit of R1,000 crore. Payment of contractors and pensioners are pending for the last six months. Where will the money come from?” asked Abbi.

Abbi said the Delhi government had assured that no additional financial burden would be put on the new corporations but as more people are required to run them, expenses in the form of salaries will rise. “The Delhi government is also yet to pay us Rs 300 crore for our policy reforms,” she added.

In his letter, Gupta raised 12 issues that will lead to chaos in the three corporations. The issues include problems in collection of taxes, centralised projects taken up by existing MCD such as parking and roads, recruitment of staff, file transfers, pensions and promotions, among others.

“The policy regarding the applicability of the rules, regulations and bye-laws also needs to be framed. Will the present laws be applicable in all the three municipal corporations uniformly or will each corporation will have its own?” asked Gupta.

Referring to the election results, Gupta said the people of Delhi rejected the Delhi government’s decision to trifurcate the MCD.