Three is a mess, not just a crowd
In 2012, the then Congress government in Delhi headed by Sheila Dikshit trifurcated the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), creating three new entities – East Delhi Municipal Corporation, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and South Delhi Municipal Corporation. The ostensible rationale behind the move was to “improve administrative efficiency” and also make the civic body more people-friendly. The unified MCD was responsible for the civic upkeep of almost 94 per cent of the national capital.
Five years later, the BJP, which now controls all the three civic bodies after sweeping the elections held in April this year, is mulling unifying the three. The reason? Improving administrative efficiency and dealing with financial woes of the three bodies.
Never-ending woes
The corporations, governing eight of the eleven districts of the national capital, have been marred by shortage of funds, corruption and lack of resources. There are a total of 272 wards in the city. The South and North have 104 wards and the East has 64 wards.
According to civic officials, the civic services provided to lakhs of citizens started deteriorating after the trifurcation, when the civic bodies came under the Delhi government, which is responsible to give grants to the bodies for basic functioning.
In 2015, the …read more
