MCD – MESS COMPOUNDED over DECADES - What was NEEDED ....... What was DONE

MCD – MESS COMPOUNDED over DECADES

What was NEEDED ....... What was DONE

What was NEEDED ..... REDRAFT THE DELIVERY MECHANISM

What was DONE ...... REORGANISE THE POWER STRUCTURE

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) ..... HAS IT LIVED UP TO THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH IT WAS FORMED ??????

Anyone who has dealt with MCD knows that it takes three departments to change a Light Bulb in MCD. Multiplicity of Authority has been the Bane of MCD and has been the real cause for the mess we find ourselves in.

MCD has seen many changes in the past decade, ALL OF THEM MISPLACED, instead of CHANGING PROCEDURES TO GET THE JOB DONE, the solutions have compounded the Problem ...... (A) Development Funds (LAD) placed in the hands of Politicians (B) Doubling the number of Councillors from 136 to 272 to accommodate more Politicians (C) Tripling the number of Mayors and Commissioners to give more positions of power to Netas and Babus by creating three Municipalities.

The moot question is, did any of the modifications bring about any change in the city’s Civic Infrastructure? Each passing year things have gone from bad to worse, LAD Funds are used more to please Vote Banks, with little emphasis on routine Maintenance or Planned Civic Development. No Social Audit has ever been conducted to determine whether doubling the number of Councillors have brought any Efficiency or Qualitative Improvement in the functioning of MCD. To make matters worse MCD was trifurcated, which proved to be the last straw in breaking the proverbial Camel’s Back ..... Today, North and East Corporations are Bankrupt and South is barely breaking even.

One wonders where all our Tax Money goes, GK-I Roads have not been recarpeted for Nine Years, although they ought to be re-laid every Five Years, forget that, Potholes on roads are rarely repaired. Most Parks in GK-I are maintained by the respective BLock RWAs; Backlanes are in a pathetic state; storm water drains are nonexistent; footpaths and kerbstones are dishevelled; unauthorised construction is rampant; no checks on misuse of residential property for commercial purposes; just 35% properties are in Tax Net; illegal hoardings and posters dot the cityscape; footpaths are encroached upon; malba is lying dumped all around; garbage collection and dhalaos have not kept pace; Sanitation Staff is not seen beyond 10 am; horticulture waste disposal has not been mechanised; no policy for removal of abandoned vehicles; parking policy is designed more to benefit contractors; house number signage is nonexistent; PM’s Swachh Bharat Campaign reduced to a Photo-opp  .... MCD has failed on all counts.

MCD is a Bottomless pit, money pumped in goes in salaries but no one knows how many employees there are? There have been no new recruitments in MCD for a decade and many have retired, leading to fewer employees; the ghost employees have been eradicated by way of biometric attendance; Property Tax has been raised over the years; computerisation of some services has reduced operating cost ...... yet there is no money to pay salaries.

More money has been spent in redecorating MCD offices/buildings and installing fancy Furniture, LCD TV’s, AC’s, etc than on the upkeep of the city. No new policies have been introduced to increase income nor has there been any effort in collecting data of properties out of the Tax Net.

Delhi will benefit more if MCD is disbanded as it has only benefited Political Parties to take care of carders and the corrupt employees to amass wealth beyond their means. IS IT NOT TIME TO REDRAFT THE DELIVERY MECHANISM ...... INSTEAD OF CONSTANTLY REORGANISING THE POWER STRUCTURE ?????

Rajiv Kakria