Delhi government to tweak MCD-split plan?

Civic body to be divided into five parts but number of wards may be reduced

Delhi government to tweak MCD-split plan?

Civic body to be divided into five parts but number of wards may be reduced

Delhi government is likely to go ahead with splitting the Municipal Corporation Delhi (MCD). But following the voices of dissent that have emerged not only from the BJP but from within Congress ranks the number of wards in the new civic bodies may be reduced.u00a0

Tall order: The Delhi Cabinet last week had decided 'in principle' to
split the MCD into smaller bodiesu00a0(inset) Sheila Dikshitu00a0FILE PIC

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday held detailed discussions with her cabinet colleagues on the proposal to divide MCD into five smaller bodies. The government did not come out with an official statement after the meeting. However, sources said, the cabinet meeting presided over by Dikshit, discussed 'various permutations and combinations' in going ahead with the proposal of splitting the MCD.

"Government is ready to reconsider not increasing the number of wards but there is no question of abandoning the plan of splitting the civic body," informed sources in the government told MiD DAY. The Delhi Cabinet last week had decided 'in principle' to split the MCD into five smaller bodies ahead of the 2012 municipal polls. The Cabinet had accepted the recommendations of the high-level committee, headed by city Health Minister AK Walia, which came up with the suggestion. The committee had also suggested increasing the total number of wards from the current 272 to around 408.

However, the Congress seems to be a divided house itself on the issue. Five MLAs on Saturday had met party chief Sonia Gandhi and opposed any division of the civic body ahead of next year's polls, saying any tweaking with its organisational structure will badly affect the party. The MLAs were led by senior city Congress leader and MLA from Kalkaji Subhash Chopra. The MLAs have also reportedly opposed the 'style of functioning' of Sheila Dikshit.

"No discussion had taken place in the party before taking such an important decision by the Cabinet," sources said. This message has reportedly conveyed to the high command.u00a0Last week, Dikshit had called a Congress Legislature Party meeting. Sources said, most of the MLAs who attended the meeting supported dividing the civic agency but opposed increasing the number of wards from current 272 to 408 as suggested by a the high-level committee.

The government, after taking a final decision on the issue, will send the proposal to Union Home Ministry for approval following which it will be placed before the Delhi Assembly. The committee headed by Walia has recommended having five mayors and five municipal commissioners. "There will be five mayors and five standing committees and a mayor council will sort out various issues concerning functioning of each of the municipalities.
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The powers to monitor functioning of the municipalities will be vested with the chief minister," said a senior government official. Government officials are these days busy finalising the administrative structure of the proposed smaller civic bodies, sources said.

Where'su00a0the action?
The Delhi government will file a detailed report to the Centre by end of this month as response to the findings of the Shunglu Committee which had blamed Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for alleged irregularities in certain CWG projects.

"We will send the report by end of this month," Dikshit said on Monday.u00a0 The city government, which already rejected the findings of the PM-appointed panel as a "product of paranoia", had sent a brief report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month, trashing the report.

In the brief report, the government had rejected almost all the findings of the panel and instead accused it of deliberately choosing to adopt logic of "convenience" in finding corruption in every policy and every tender of the government. The government is now preparing a detailed report in response to the Shunglu committee findings. The Prime Minister's Office earlier this month had referred the Shunglu Committee findings on alleged irregularities by certain Delhi government departments to the Home Ministry for further action.

The city government has already asked officials whose names figure in the Shunglu Committee report to submit their response in writing to the government as soon as possible. The Home Ministry is likely to seek reply from Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna and Dikshit and other agencies concerned, held responsible by Shunglu panel for lack of oversight and decisions that led to cost escalation.