A senior BJP leader and former mayor said that some councillors recently raised the issue of bureaucrats not giving due respect to the requests made by former councillors even when they receive several complaints from the public every day. (File photo)Two months after the political wing ceased to exist in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), senior officials and department heads of the civic body have been told in an official communication that they have to remain in touch with the wing and its associates.
“All the staff, junior engineer, assistant engineer, electrical engineer of different departments are directed to constantly remain in touch with public representatives, including former municipal councillors, MLAs and MPs, representatives of RWAs (resident welfare associations) and market traders’ associations to sort out grievances and complaints on priority basis so that the image of MCD is improved in the eyes of the public,” said additional commissioner engineering of the MCD in a letter marked to engineers, deputy commissioners and other senior officials.
A senior BJP leader and former mayor said that some councillors recently raised the issue of bureaucrats not giving due respect to the requests made by former councillors even when they receive several complaints from the public every day. “The party later raised it with top MCD officials,” he said.
“Most of us are running our office and people come with complaints which we forward to MCD officials and many said that those were not being duly addressed,” he said.
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The MCD, in the letter, said that consequent upon the dissolution of the corporation, the members of the house have ceased to exist. “The grievance of the public used to be brought to the notice of the staff of the MCD during regular interaction with concerned public representatives and municipal councillors is not being done now,” it said.
Over the past few weeks, complaints have been pouring in regarding the deterioration of quality of civic services in the area under the jurisdiction of respective divisions and circles. The major issues include waterlogging, repair, maintenance, potholes, damaged black top, damaged footpath, damaged central verge, street lights, the letter said. It also includes cleanliness of roads by ensuring removal of garbage, plastic waste, demolition waste etc.
In case of any complaint from any quarter regarding negligence in attending to the public’s concerns, strict action against the delinquent official will be taken, the letter said.
The unified MCD formally came into existence on May 22 with IAS officers Ashwani Kumar and Gyanesh Bharti assuming charge as its special officer and commissioner respectively.
The erstwhile MCD, established in 1958, was trifurcated in 2012 during Sheila Dikshit’s tenure as the chief minister. It was recently reunified by merging the three civic bodies — north, south and east Delhi municipal corporations or NDMC, SDMC and EDMC.
Parliament passed the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 on April 5 to unify the three civic bodies in the national capital, with Rajya Sabha giving its nod through a voice vote after negating all the amendments sought by the opposition. According to the bill, the unification of the municipal corporations will ensure synergised and strategic planning and optimal utilisation of resources.
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