The Hindu : New Delhi News : “Discontent” against MCD Commissioner

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

“Discontent” against MCD Commissioner

Kunal Diwan

“Not taking keen interest in work”

NEW DELHI: Tremors of discontent are seeping through the deliberative wing of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi with several functionaries none too happy with “lackadaisical approach” of Municipal Commissioner Ashok Kumar Nigam in dealing with issues of public bearing.

According to MCD Standing Committee Chairman Vijender Gupta, the Commissioner, who is a 1974 batch IAS officer, has his eyes set on becoming the Chief Secretary and is therefore not taking a keen interest in MCD affairs.

“We had apprised our party president of our unhappiness with the state of affairs and if this continues we will be forced to take the extreme step of removing the Commissioner on grounds of incompetence,” he said.

Mr. Gupta explained that under Section 54 (3) of the DMC Act, a 60 per cent majority of the councillors could vote out the Commissioner at a special session of the House conducted for this very purpose. According to Mr. Gupta, the previous Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, was facing similar proceedings against him before an internal compromise was struck and he was posted out to another department before the situation escalated into an embarrassment for all the parties involved. However, there appear to be no easy solutions this time round because different parties are in power in the MCD and at the State.

Echoing similar sentiments, Mayor Arti Mehra said: “We want to improve Delhi and make it more habitable for its residents, but we are not getting a suitable response from the Executive head.” The Mayor said several councillors had expressed dissatisfaction at the sluggish rate of implementation of directives of the MCD Standing Committee. “What we require is an aggressive, energetic Commissioner who visits sites and takes interest in issues. It is such a charismatic post but it is not being done justice to. What everyone should understand is that both the Deliberative and the Executive wing are working for a similar goal.”

However, Leader of the Opposition J. K. Sharma said he had “no problems” with the Municipal Commissioner: “They (the BJP) do not know how to get work done. When we were in power in the MCD, everything functioned with clockwork precision.”

Asked if he was aware of apparent dissatisfaction with his performance in the civic body, Mr. Nigam said: “I am not aware of anything.”

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