MCD must rise to the infra challenge

The first real storm of the season in the early hours of Monday threw Delhi’s civic infrastructure out of gear yet again. The collapse came on the first working day of the Capital’s new unified municipal body and represented the first major challenge for its office bearers. To resolve this crisis, it will need a prompt response on two fronts. One, Delhi’s infrastructure has suffered from a problem of too many masters, and too little accountability. Until the unification, for example, five municipal bodies (the three municipal corporations of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Council, and the Cantonment Board) and two government agencies managed roads and drains, creating a muddle of jurisdictions and regulation, one exacerbated by politics.

The new Municipal Council of Delhi (MCD) must, therefore, show political resolve in cleaning and desilting stormwater drains, and creating new and dedicated sewer lines. To recharge the city’s drainage network, the MCD will have to focus on green infrastructure, by checking illegal construction on the Yamuna floodplain, and restoring wetlands, lakes and ponds. Much depends on the new MCD acting in concert with the Government of Delhi — something that looks remote at this stage, given the sparring between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Indeed, in recent months, when they should have been focusing on preparing for the monsoon, the MCDs were spending most of their time either playing politics, or being caught in the crossfire between the parties. With the havoc wreaked by the deluge on Monday, raising serious questions about the city’s preparedness, the city’s political and municipal authorities must rise to the challenge and show that the unification of the MCDs is indeed a change for the better.