DELHI HEAdING TO BECOME A BIG SLUM, SAY BJP, CONGRESS

BJP and Congress leaders rarely miss the opportunity to indulge in blame games. But at a seminar on “whether the present civic administration of Delhi fulfils the aspirations of people”, Vijender Gupta (BJP), Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, and Ajay Maken, president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, discussed this important issue frankly, admitting their parties’ mistakes. In a lighter vein, Maken even said, “See, today we are sitting together in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre located at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.” The seminar was organised by the Citizen’s Council Delhi. Former BJP MLA Mewa Ram Arya, who presided, and former BJP MLA and the Council’s Convenor Prof P.K. Chandla said that the civic administration had failed totally to fulfil people’s aspirations. Vijender Gupta said that about 70% people were living in “unorganised areas” and the national capital was heading to become “a big slum, instead of being a smart city”. The bureaucracy was a stumbling block in providing the right kind of facilities for people’s welfare and that the DDA was not in a position to provide affordable housing. Maken said that the reality was that no state government was in favour of giving powers to the civic bodies, even if both were ruled by the same political party. “Over the years, successive Delhi governments have taken away lots of functions and responsibilities from the civic bodies,” added Maken, commenting that he was not a great supporter of the trifurcation of the MCD in 2012. Omesh Saigal, former chief secretary with the Delhi Government, suggested the creation of a “Mayor in Council” for all the three MCDs. A veteran journalist, Dilbar Gothi, who has covered the city affairs for decades, said that before the trifurcation of the MCD, the unified civic body’s total budget was Rs 6,600 crore. Now, all the three MCDs’ budget was Rs 15,000 crore. “We have three mayors, three standing committees, three commissioners and three secretariats. This is creating confusion. For example, each MCD has a different rate of property tax.” All the speakers said that the three MCDs should be made self-reliant instead of “begging” for funds from the state government. Besides an elected government, Delhi has five different civic bodies, which include three municipal corporations, the NDMC and the Delhi Cantonment Board. There is a lot of overlapping in their functioning.