NEW DELHI: The attendance of councillors in all the three municipal corporations — South DMC, North MCD and East DMC — has dropped from 2018, resulting in a decline in their performance, says a study. The report by Praja Foundation, which was released two days ago, says that in South, North and East, the attendance of councillors in house meetings has dropped from 75.10 per cent to 70.74 per cent, 75.32 per cent to 69.68 per cent, and 81.83 per cent to 76.17 per cent, respectively.
As per the Praja Foundation report, Balram Kumar Oberoi, the Bharatiya Janata Party councillor from Rajouri Garden emerged as the top councillor, followed by Avtar Singh, Mayor of North MCD, and Govind Aggarwal from EDMC.
The quality of issues that councillors raise in the committee meetings is calculated by analysing the obligatory and discretionary duties as per National Capital Territory (NCT) Delhi Act 1991 and MCD Delhi Act 1957 (under Section 42 & 43), and by comparing issues raised by the councillor with the citizens’ complaints.
“In a democratic setup, quality of legislation and deliberation is key to the nature of policies that will be implemented, which impact the city’s governance system. Therefore, it is important to analyse the performance of our local corporation and councillors on their constitutional duties and give them feedback beyond the ballot and at regular intervals,” said Nitai Mehta, founder and trustee, Praja Foundation.
The report also found that an average score of quality of issues raised had dropped in SDMC from 50.39 per cent in 2018 to 47.16 per cent in 2019. In NDMC, it dropped from 51.70 per cent to 50.66 per cent, and in EDMC from 50.01 per cent to 45.34 per cent.