NEW DELHI: Amid a move to reunify the three municipal corporations in the city, many former mayors on Thursday welcomed the decision, even as they pitched for according “greater power” and “longer serving tenure” for the post of mayor. They also claimed that after reverting to a unified civic body, as was the arrangement till 2012, the financial condition of the three corporations would also “surely improve”.
The Centre plans to bring a bill in the budget session of Parliament to unify the three municipal corporations of Delhi, the State Election Commission said as it deferred the announcement of the election schedule for the civic bodies.
Senior BJP leader and former South Delhi mayor Subhash Arya, who has served as a leader of the House and as a Leader of the Opposition during the period of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), said, “We opposed the move to trifurcate the MCD back then also, when it was proposed during the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi”.
“Reunifying them is a good option, and it will improve the financial condition of the three local bodies. Since 2012, everything is divided into three segments, and that means greater bureaucratic delays. When the MCD was split into three corporations, we had suggested that their financial viabilities, at least be ensured,” Arya said.
Arya, who has also served as a chairman of the standing committee of the MCD, recalled that a mayor in the unified era “wielded lot of powers” and his position held “a very level of prestige” in the city. “If the MCD is unified again, a mayor’s post should be accorded more powers, and the serving tenure should also be increased,” he said.
Yogender Chandolia, former mayor of New Delhi echoed Arya, and also pitched for according greater power to the post of mayor. “Reunification of the three corporations was very much-needed, and it will surely improve the financial condition,” he said.