New Delhi, Mar 10 (PTI) Amid a move to reunify the three municipal corporations in Delhi, several former mayors on Thursday welcomed the decision, even as they pitched for according “greater power” and “longer serving tenure” for the post of mayor.
They also claimed that after reverting to a unified civic body, as was the arrangement till 2012, the financial condition of the three corporations would also “surely improve”.
The Centre plans to bring a bill in the budget session of Parliament to unify the three municipal corporations of Delhi, the State Election Commission said on Wednesday as it deferred the announcement of the election schedule for the civic bodies.
Senior BJP leader and former South Delhi mayor Subhash Arya, who has served as a leader of the House and as a Leader of the Opposition during the period of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), said, “We had opposed the move to trifurcate the MCD back then also, when it was proposed during the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi”.
“Reunifying them is a good option, and it will improve the financial condition of the three local bodies. Since 2012, everything is divided into three segments, and that means greater bureaucratic delays. When the MCD was split into three corporations, we had suggested that their financial viabilities, at least be ensured,” Arya told PTI.
The 77-year-old leader, who has also served as a chairman of the standing committee of the MCD, recalled that a mayor in the unified era “wielded lot of powers” and his position held “a very level of prestige” in the city.
“If the MCD is unified again, a mayor’s post should be accorded more powers, and the serving tenure should also be increased,” he said.
The post of mayor sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for open category, third for reserved category, and the remaining two also being in the open category.
Yogender Chandolia, another senior party leader and former mayor of New Delhi echoed Arya, and also pitched for according greater power to the post of mayor.
“Reunification of the three corporations was very much-needed, and it will surely improve the financial condition of the three corporations. Since 2012, we are seeing several strikes by employees from different departments over pending salaries. It was due to issues caused by trifurcation,” he claimed.
Chandolia, who was also the standing committee chairman of the MCD in 2012, at the time of trifurcation, claimed that about a year ago, he had “written a letter to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, seeking a common financial system so that at least salaries could be given to employees on time”.
“Also, the current serving tenure of a mayor in all three corporations is very short. It should be at least two years or more,” he suggested.
Former East Delhi mayor Nirmal Jain said, “The reunification of the three corporations will undo a lot of issue that have cropped up since trifurcation. And, this should have been done long ago”.
Jain, who has served on an important post in the unified MCD era, and as a mayor post-trifurcation, also said, “In a corporation in Delhi, a municipal commissioner has vast and wide powers as the executive wing, and the mayor represents the deliberative wing. And, if re-unification is happening, I suggest more powers should be accorded to a mayor”.
The three existing municipal corporations in Delhi will be “dissolved” after these civic bodies are officially reunified into a single body, a senior civic official had claimed on Wednesday.
All three corporations in the city are currently ruled by the BJP, which has been controlling the civic bodies since the trifurcation of the erstwhile unified MCD.
Delhi has three civic bodies — North, South and East Delhi municipal corporations or NDMC, SDMC and EDMC — and the last civic polls in the city were held in April 2017.
The erstwhile MCD was governed under the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act 1957 and it continued to be the legal basis for the three corporations since trifurcation.
“In case of trifurcation, all three existing municipal corporations in Delhi will be dissolved the moment official notification is made,” a senior civic official claimed.
“The election will have to be conducted within six months from the dissolution. Till the elections are held, the administration will be run totally by central government officers,” he added.
Since trifurcation of the MCD, the NDMC and the SDMC have 104 wards each, while the EDMC has 64 wards. PTI KND CK
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