The Hindu : New Delhi News : L-G brokers peace among Delhi Govt., DDA, MCD

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Friday, May 20, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

L-G brokers peace among Delhi Govt., DDA, MCD

Staff Reporter

Gets funds released for development works

NEW DELHI: Living up to his assertion that there was no multiplicity of authority in the Capital, the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, B.L. Joshi, on Thursday intervened to defuse the tension between the Delhi Government, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Delhi Development Authority on various contentious issues that had threatened to derail the development process.

The net result of the "peace meet'' was that the Delhi Government has agreed to release the first instalment of the Rs.190-crore grant due to the MCD for the first quarter. In addition, Rs. 70 crores has been released out of the MLA's Constituency Development Fund to the Corporation and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to carry out various works under the MLA head.

It was also decided that funds would be released at regular intervals after the MLAs had identified the various works that needed to be carried out in their constituencies. The Corporation has been asked to make necessary requisition for funds and the same would be released on priority basis.

"We will release 25 per cent of money due to the Corporation in the first quarter soon. It is due to the efforts of Mr. Joshi that things have been sorted out and the issue of multiplicity of authority has been settled to our satisfaction,'' the Finance Minister, A.K. Walia, said after the meeting.

Interestingly, while the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, has been raising the issue of multiplicity of authority in the Capital that had led to constant problems on the development front, Mr. Joshi had made it clear that no such thing existed and everything had become one under his jurisdiction.

Dr. Walia is understood to have raked up the issue of delay in handing over of the resettlement colonies in Kalyanpuri, Trilokpuri and Raghuvir Nagar by the DDA to the Corporation. He said orders for this had been issued in 2001 but till date nothing had moved on the subject resulting in total logjam. It is understood Mr. Joshi asked the DDA to hand over the colonies to MCD on an as-is-where-is basis.

Similarly, the Corporation was directed to work out the charges for declaring Gharoli Dairy colony as a residential area.

The Finance Minister also objected to the hefty rent being demanded by the DDA from the Delhi Government for setting up a casting yard for the Geeta Colony bridge near the site of construction. He urged Mr. Joshi to ensure that only that rent should be charged from the Government as was done in case of department to department dealing.

The Corporation officials are understood to have refuted the allegations of Dr. Walia and the Delhi Government that it had failed to utilise the MLAs Constituency Development Funds on time and said there was hardly an instance where funds had been released on time. They said a large amount of funds meant for works in unauthorised colonies had not been released by the Delhi Government.

The MCD Commissioner is believed to have pointed out that while the Government was talking of e-governance and e-commerce, the MCD officials were made to run around various departments for getting the cheques of quarterly grants. Despite the availability of electronic exchange and transfer facility available within the Government, the old primitive system was being followed for some strange reason.

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