In limbo

The Union government is rushing to bring a Bill by the end of the ongoing session, Home Minister Amit Shah is known to be in constant touch with Delhi BJP leaders, bureaucrats in the Delhi government and the municipal corporations are tense in their corridors, and the State Election Commission here is scrambling to find sound legal footing for next steps — all asking the same thing — What happens if the South, North and East MCDs are reunified?

While sources said the SEC is likely to have more clarity on the next steps early next week, officials are still reeling under the surprise communication from the L-G's Office, intimating them of the Union government's "plans to reunify" the MCDs. Election officials were told of this half an hour before they were ready to announce the civic polls schedule — due to be held by May this year.

Since then, as the SEC has gone about trying to understand how it should proceed, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party here have upped their political rhetoric - the former claiming the BJP was trying to delay the polls because it knew of its imminent defeat and the latter trying to position the reunification as a solution for the MCDs' financial woes.

In the midst of all this — officials at the heart of running the civic administrations in the city, employees who work for the municipalities and the bureaucrats in the Delhi government have been wondering about the consequences and fallout from this exercise — raising some important concerns about what might come if the civic bodies are unified once again and that it may not present the solution many are hoping for.

In 2012, the three civic bodies were trifurcated after the President assented to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2011 - passed in the Delhi Assembly. The amendment firstly divided the city into three MCDs but also gave more power to the Delhi government to control the funds going into the civic bodies.

In the Assembly, the trifurcation was argued to be necessary to better manage the city with civic amenities being able to reach all corners of the Capital. But it also took away the civic bodies' power to draw funds directly from the Union government.

Since the trifurcation in 2012, there was a vast fund disparity created among the MCDs in terms of the revenue they could rake in from property taxes - which has only grown over the decade. The corporations have only gotten poorer over time and the three civic bodies have absolutely no leg to stand on anymore, one senior official said.

"There needs to be a completely new financial plan in place within the MCD, the unification will only cost more money and not bring in any, employees will have to relocate, offices will have to be revamped to accommodate departments of the three civic bodies and there is a possibility of downsizing as well. All of this will cost the corporation money which it does not have," the official added.

That the financials of the civic bodies are in shambles is a constant and now a widely-admitted fact and that there needs to be a complete overhaul of the financials is something everyone across party lines agrees with.

East MCD Deputy Controller of Accounts Hari Prasad explained that the system in place currently does not work and promises of a financially independent MCD are far from reality. He said, "Currently, East MCD is the poorest, North MCD is poor and South, despite having the most, is still poor. Combining the three will not help them at all, they will continue to fall into deep financial trouble as the disparity between them is very evident.

The financial crunch is evident from the fact that teachers, doctors, nurses, domestic breeding checkers and staffers across the board at the three civic bodies have had to resort to strikes for salaries that are due for months at a time. And these employees too are now confused and worried that they might have to fight harder for their benefits and pay if the administrations are unified.

Administrative employees have echoed similar views, stating that they have received no clarity on how a unified MCD will work if it is unified and how the merging of each department will take place - causing them to worry about downsizing over the last one week - which is more likely in relatively higher offices at the Civic Centre.

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But the other thing that officials across the civic bodies feel similarly about is that it might get more difficult to work with a more centralised, unified MCD and that there will be a lot of "disruption" within each department. The most concerned are people working in areas like East Delhi or parts of Outer Delhi, which many are afraid might now be ignored by the unified MCD.

Multiple East MCD officials have said that in the last few years they have been able to make better-suited policies and also develop departments like horticulture and others in a fashion that suits East Delhi.

"But if the unification takes place and headquarters are relocated, it won't be central to East Delhi anymore which may cause problems," one of them said. They added that it will eventually depend on the administration that comes into power and how they choose to deal with Delhi and its extended parts.

An official from East MCD's horticulture department explained that in the past few years they have been able to make parks and places for citizens to identify as well as identify various locations for them which were lacking prior to the trifurcation.

Another official explained that spending was prioritised as per the residents' needs and independent collaborations with RWAs and the likes were easier to be held with a decentralised system.

Officials in North and South MCD have expressed similar views, stating that the unification will lead to a lot of disruption within each department but many of them said that it will also help in fulfilling the various vacant posts that are being given to retired employees on a contractual basis currently.

Significantly, former mayors and officials who have worked in both a unified MCD and in the civic administration post-trifurcation think that unifying the MCDs remains the most viable option to solve the severe fund crunch in the local bodies.

Jai Prakash, former North Delhi Mayor and Senior BJP leader, said, "If the three MCDs are unified, there will be a financial benefit, right now they are struggling, one is running in minus, the other is struggling and one barely has enough but if the three are combined, their resources will be too which will be used to develop Delhi only."

KS Mehra, former Commissioner of a unified MCD agreed, saying, "I think it will be in the best interest of the city that the MCD is unified. Trifurcation was always the wrong move." But he also noted that he had to ensure that he gave special attention to areas like East Delhi - which required it.

Jitendra Kochar, Congress Leader of House in 2007 said, "It should be unified only, it's the best way to serve people, right now the financial situation of the three MCDs is not good but if unified, they'll be combining everything and the revenue received will be equally divided… It's not changing overnight or what party comes into power, they will be chosen by the citizens only, but it's about how more experienced leaders will be created. Right now the Mayors, chairmans, etc only stay in power for an year, which is how long it takes to understand that job itself so how will they make changes but if they change the structure, more experienced leaders will come to power."

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But even as officials in the civic administrations have been in limbo about what will come next if the MCDs are unified, Leader of Opposition in the East MCD, Manoj Tyagi (AAP) has raised concerns that the unification would rob people in places like East Delhi to have enough of a say in the House of the unified civic body.

"If the unification happens, our contact with the common man will definitely lessen. Today, we get to communicate with them every day and meet them, not just me but the common man is able to easily contact the Mayor, Standing Committee Chairman, etc. for help but if the unification happens the common citizen will not be able to do so. Think about it, how will someone from places across the Yamuna or Trilokpuri, etc come to the civic centre to tell us their problems. How will we (councillors and officials) stay in touch with the citizens who are relocated and unified? We will also have less time and our priorities will become divided. I personally feel it's very important for us to stay in contact with the citizens, that's how any government should function, unifying MCD will result in the opposite," Tyagi argued, adding that "no work will be done in the House or Standing Committee with so many councillors in one room - it will become haphazard".

However, it is important to note that the Aam Aadmi Pary's reaction to the delay in civic polls after the Centre's "intervention" has been to allege that the Union government was "brazenly influencing" the local election body. And this has definitely given them some room to continue their campaign - saying that unified or not, the MCDs need new blood.

But even as the SEC readies to announce its path forward tomorrow (Monday), the question that everyone wants answers to is whether the polls will take place after the unification or before.

Views expressed are personal

What the BJP is milking from this

Our Correspondent

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi is now expertly exploiting the State Election Commission delaying the announcement of the civic polls, which the opposition AAP has called an "assault on democracy".

On the one hand, the party is using the sudden move by the Union government to position it as a one-stop solution to the financial woes of the MCDs and on the other, hoping that the unification helps cut Delhi government out of the process of their funding.

When the MCD was trifurcated, the legislation passed in the Delhi Assembly had specified a provision that said the civic bodies would not be allowed to directly seek funds from the Union government.

And since the financials of the MCDs have only worsened since then, the BJP is and always has been blaming the trifurcation for the economic situation in the local bodies - providing it a golden opportunity to position the unification as a move that acknowledges and solves a problem at the same time.

Sources in the know have hinted that it is likely that civic bodies will be able to seek funds directly from the Centre if the bodies are reunified since this was a key aspect of the trifurcation in 2012.

But this sentiment that the move will fix the financial crunch is not uncommon. Former mayors, officials who've worked with both the unified and trifurcated MCDs and several people from opposition parties have also hinted that it might be better financially to merge the civic bodies but officials working in the administration currently have said it might not be that easy and that the move might not have expected results.

Nonetheless, the Delhi BJP while constantly in touch with the Central leadership, is basing their campaign, for now, on talking up the benefits of reunification and how it will solve all problems like pending salaries and poor financials.

Former North Delhi mayor Jai Prakash said, "MCDs have had issues with paying salaries because of financial struggles but all MCD unions are made for all three bodies so if North doesn't pay East and South also suffer, this will end if MCD is unified," adding that the unification will allow the MCDs access to more funds overall - meaning the Delhi government would no longer hold its purse strings in its hands.

This new angle on their campaign comes to the BJP's rescue after facing a year-long barrage of allegations of corruption and mismanagement from the Aam Aadmi Party, which has over the last two years, geared up for the polls by talking up alleged instances of corruption in the civic bodies.

The AAP had made it its mission in the last two years to make sure "systemic corruption" was shown within the civic bodies whenever a controversy erupted.

Will this make it better? Yes and No

Aaisha Sabir

New Delhi: Even as the BJP is pitching unification as a solution to all the MCDs' problems, the Aam Aadmi Party is torn between praising the benefits of decentralised administrations and pressing ahead with their campaign - opining that the unification will not matter as much.

But at the same time, officials working in the Delhi government, which has been at loggerheads with the civic bodies for years now, have said that for certain works, it might be better for decentralised civic administrations.

If the Centre goes ahead with the plan to unify the three MCDs, each with their own set of bureaucrats and officials, it will likely create a simpler organisation but can make it difficult for a single official to execute plans, an official from the education department added.

"If a single mayor has around 100 wards under him compared to 272 wards under him it is better from an administration perspective. There are several advantages of having smaller units as it is easier to keep track of work and get it executed on ground," AAP's MCD-in-charge Durgesh Pathak said.

A senior official from the Public Works Department said that smaller teams are always better to carry out the department's work, however the government directly does not interfere in the matters of how the corporation works as of now. "If the local bodies and state government are of the same party then it is an added advantage and a trifurcated corporation would be better," the official added.

But interestingly, some have said that coordination between the Delhi government and the MCD depends more on the party in power in both places and less on the structure of the civic bodies.

A unified or a trifurcated MCD will work better when it has proper resource planning in place. From my personal experience working in the education sector when it was a single corporation entity it was lack of poor planning that caused hindrance to getting work done rather than a division in the corporation," an advisor to the Education Department Shailendra Sharma told Millennium post, adding that irrespective of the division or unification, a proper plan for revenue collection or how to execute schemes on ground needs to be chalked out.

Moreover, district officials in Delhi have said having a unified MCD would be better at least in terms of affixing accountability and maintaining uniformity in functioning.

But even as there persists some ambiguity and hanging concerns about whether it will be easier to work with a unified MCD, municipal leaders from the AAP have maintained that the problem was with the BJP's alleged corruption and lack of will.

Prem Chauhan, Leader of Opposition in the South MCD said, "There will be an impact" but that they must not be distracted from the core issues of corruption, mismanagement of resources. "Regardless of how the MCD is structured, there could be 1, 2 or even half, the issues will remain the same with this party (BJP), they need to tackle corruption before anything else," he said.