The issue of reunification of the Capital’s three municipal bodies was broached in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday by East Delhi MP Maheish Girri, who also demanded the imposition of President's Rule in the city alleging that there was a break down of the administrative machinery in relation to civic issues.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Mr. Girri of the BJP said that while the municipal corporations cleaned the sewers before the monsoon, those managed by the Delhi government were yet to be cleaned and had resulted in flooding in several areas.
Poll promise
He said he has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about it and has requested that the three municipal corporations – which were trifurcated by the erstwhile Congress government in 2012 – be reunified. This was a major poll promise made by his party in the run-up to the municipal elections in Delhi earlier this year.
Waterlogging
“Delhi is a Union Territory which saw, under a particular regime, a trifurcation of its civic body, becoming the first city, perhaps in the whole world, to be made to contend with such a system. Delhi went down the path of destruction after the corporation was divided into three parts,” the MP said.
“The problem is also that the city is being made to suffer under the administration of the so-called government whenever it rains. There is so much waterlogging during monsoon despite the MCD cleaning its drains, but the Delhi government failing to maintain its own,” he further said.
According to a source close to the MP, Mr. Girri had written to the Prime Minister last week requesting that the corporations be reunified.
Pointing out the scale of the problem in his own constituency, which has many unauthorised settlements and has seen several strikes of sanitation workers, converting the area into what Mr. Girri termed was “a house of garbage”, the MP said: “Delhi has never seen days like this in the past. I request you to once again reunify the three MCDs. President's Rule should also be immediately imposed in Delhi because the current government has failed to administer it effectively.”