‘Unifying civic bodies may put an end to financial woes’

The trifurcation of the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has led to financial crisis at the three civic bodies. Senior officials point out that the situation will improve considerably if the three Corporations are unified.

At present, the three Corporations have a separate Mayor, Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition. Whereas earlier, there was only one Mayor, one Leader of the House and one Leader of the Opposition for the entire MCD.

“Now, each of the three Corporations have 27 committees (comprising councilors) and each one of them have a chairman,” said a senior officer in North MCD, requesting anonymity. With trifurcation, the Corporations have to buy three-time more vehicles for office-bearers, he added.

The expenditure incurred by the three agencies on paying salaries to employees and councilors has also tripled. Earlier, the Corporation had one commissioner, six additional commissioners and one municipal commissioner. But after trifurcation, the MCDs appointed three commissioners, 12 additional commissioners, three municipal secretaries and the number of senior officials such as assistant commissioners, revenue collectors and head of departments also increased threefold. “As the number of employees tripled in the MCDs, the salary expenditure also increased threefold,” he added.

Moreover, the three-time increase in the number of staff created a host of vacancies in the Municipal Corporations. To come up with a solution, the agencies borrowed employees from other sectors, gave them a hike of 20 per cent along with a promotion. “With this, the Corporations had to pay hiked salaries to a portion of their employees, which could have otherwise easily been avoided,” he said.

According to official data, the internal revenue generated by the three civic agencies is Rs 5,975 crore, while the combined salary expenditure is around Rs 6,240 crore, which includes the salary of employees, arrears and medical allowances. A look into each of three Corporations shows that North MCD’s salary expenditure is Rs 2,640 crore against its internal revenue of only Rs 2,375 crore, leaving a gap of Rs 265 crore. East MCD’s condition is similar. There is a gap of Rs 95 crore between its salary expenditure and internal revenue. The condition at South MCD is slightly better as the civic body has estimated earnings of Rs 2,755 crore against the salary expenditure of Rs 2,640 crore. 

The expenditure on salaries is much higher than what it was under a unified Corporation.

According to former chief secretary of Delhi, the trifurcation of MCD was a political decision. “But what is the guarantee that the financial health of the three MCD will improve if are unified”, the secretary said.

Earlier, a unified MCD would have to manage one website, but now there are separate portals for each of the three civic bodies. According to an RTI reply, the monthly expense incurred on the maintenance of e-government project is Rs 1 crore per month, which goes up to Rs 12 crore annually. 

The three MCDs are splurging as much as Rs 65 crore on the maintenance of their websites.

Moreover, the agencies conduct administration’s meetings such as House meetings, Standing Committee meetings, ward meetings and official meetings, thereby, leading to a hike in their expenses. 

“Earlier as there were lesser number of meetings and fewer number of cars, so the administration’s expense was much lesser,” said a source.

A senior bureaucrat, who had played a major role in the trifurcation of the Municipal Corporation, said that the then Congress government had trifurcated bodies to get political mileage in the Municipal elections but it back-fired.