MCD’s non-decision over Chhat holiday leads to confusion

The battle between MCD and the Delhi government over declaring a public holiday on Chhat Puja led to confusion amongst the MCD officials. Many reported late to work.

The battle between MCD and the Delhi government over declaring a public holiday on Chhat Puja led to confusion amongst the MCD officials. Many reported late to work.

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As Mayor Rajni Abbi had declared November 1 as a holiday, sealing action was postponed for Wednesday for a number of zones.

Till late in the morning, a number of senior officials were busy making calls to each other to find out whether there was a holiday or not. Councillors, too, reached the Civic Centre late.

“We were planning to start our sealing drive from today, but there was a lot of confusion about Tuesday being a holiday. If the sealing drive has to take place, we need to make a requisition for the police, so we decided against it. But in the morning, we got to know that Tuesday was working day. So we had to rush to work,” said a senior MCD official. Sealing drive was to start in south Delhi areas of Malviya Nagar, Kishanganj, Green Park, Kotla Mubarkpur among others.

Abbi, however, decided to take a day off. “I deliberately didn’t come to the Civic Centre. We wanted Tuesday to be a holiday for all MCD workers. We had passed a resolution to the effect which was forwarded to the Lt. Governor but we got no reply. Hence, MCD commissioner didn’t declare Tuesday as a holiday,” said Abbi.

With MCD elections scheduled to be held in April 2012, the high drama being played out over declaring a public holiday on Chhat Puja can be seen as an effort by both parties to use Chhat Puja for political mileage.