23 projects to get clearance as MCD House takes over standing committee’s powers

New Delhi: Twenty-three policy proposals and stuck projects, including one related to bio mining of Delhi’s three biggest garbage dumping points, are likely to see the light of the day as the MCD has entrusted the powers of the Standing Committee to the House enabling it to take decisions on matters of financial importance.

In a special House meeting on Monday, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi passed a proposal to vest all powers of the standing committee -- the highest decision-making body of the corporation -- to the MCD House till the time its panel is reconstituted.

The move will pave the way for getting clearance for 13 policy proposals (preambles) and 10 projects that were stuck due to non-formation of the standing committee -- the sole authority to pass proposals exceeding the limit of Rs 5 crore fund.

Policy proposals such as construction of a multilevel parking lot, a 200-bed hospital ward, and a provision to serve hot meals to schoolchildren were in the pipeline to be presented before the standing committee, which now can be reviewed by the House.

Furthermore, work on projects related to collection of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), bio mining of Okhla, Gazipur, and Bhalswa landfill sites, and health and educational facilities that are stuck due to absence of the standing committee, can also commence soon after this transfer of power.

These projects were held up because of no decision on fixing the rate and agency contract for these projects along with issuance of tender, according to an official document.

According to the document, an automated multilevel parking system is proposed to be built in the Punjabi Bagh area and a 200-bed ward block at the Balak Ram Hospital in Timarpur.

The civic body also plans to engage NGOs to provide hot cooked meals under the PM POSHAN Scheme to children studying in municipal and aided schools in the North, South, and Najafgarh Zones along with deciding the rate and agency for outsourcing the services of nursery Ayas for deployment in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools.

The construction of a school building in Wazirabad village and the extension of rate contracts to supply medical gas across MCD hospitals are among other proposals in the pipeline.

The formation of the standing committee has been pending for the past 10 months amid political and legal impasse.

The civic body has been functioning without a standing committee ever since AAP’s candidate Oberoi won the mayoral elections in December 2022 and the selection for members for the committee became a point of contention for the parties.

Currently, the matter is pending before the Supreme Court after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) challenged the High Court’s order in favour of the BJP over selection of members of the committee. PTI