MCD’s ‘disconnect’ with common man

The babus at MCD are living 'peaceful lives' these days with no calls from Municipal councillors or complainants 'pestering' them over various civic problems.

The babus at MCD are living 'peaceful lives' these days with no calls from Municipal councillors or complainants 'pestering' them over various civic problems.

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This change is courtesy the inefficiency of these very officials who have failed to get proper cell phone network installed at the Civic Centre — the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's new address.

With no network, MCD officials are literally cut off from the outside world. With almost all departments of the civic agency having shifted to the Civic Centre at Minto Road, including engineering, sanitation, education, finance, health, veterinary, land and estate, Remunerative Project Cell among others, getting any work done has become a problem.

At a height of 112 metres, most floors of the Civic Centre suffer from no signals from cell phone towers. The civic agency had decided to install in-building solutions on each floor to improve connectivity but it has been more than six months since the plan.

The tenders for roping in a network provider for installing the system were delayed. The MCD had claimed the work would be done by June last year.

"So many people come to us everyday complaining about day-to-day issues. When we try calling the officer concerned to discuss the matter, we are not able to do that due to poor connectivity. While on some floors they have installed landlines, but we don't even have the numbers yet. We are a civic body and need to be much more accessible," said a councillor, wishing to remain anonymous.

"We have called the tenders and are waiting for responses from network providers. The system should be in place by February," said a senior official.