NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had stirred up the MCD poll campaign with his latest announcement of empowering the Resident Welfare Associations in the city by giving them the status of “mini-councillors” his AAP is voted to power in upcoming MCD poll.
Amid the last leg of campaigning, he said that the party will launch a scheme called Janta Chalayegi MCD. Under this scheme, an RWA will be given mini-parshad (councillor) status with all the power, including funds, to address the issues of their locality, according to Kejriwal.
The move is politically significant as RWAs hold sway in the city’s planned, authorised areas, especially in DDA colonies. While the announcement may sound attractive, the RWAs have raised a red flag calling it mere optics to win the election.
“This is a jumla. If the RWAs are empowered enough to do everything then why do we need councillors and MLAs and even elections? However alluring the promise may sound but on ground, it will only lead to conflict between RWAs,” said Pritam Dhariwal, President, New Delhi RWA Federation.
“Besides, who will listen to an unconstitutional body?” he asked. In Delhi, RWAS are a phenomenon of gated colonies and are elected by homeowners. They are responsible for security arrangements, beautification and greening of public areas and managing control of community halls and spaces.
Atul Goel, president, United Residents Joint Action (URJA), said the announcement had no clarity about the outlines and even roadmaps to implement the scheme on ground. Besides, he also questioned Delhi CM’s authority to give status of councillor, which is a constitutional post, to a resident body. “They (AAP) had a similar scheme of constituting Mohalla Sabha in colonies. What happened to that? It never took off because it was more a populist scheme than a practical one,” he asked.
“Councillor is a constitutional post created by the act of parliament. A mere promise is not enough. The CM must tell how they will award status of position that is not unde his jurisdiction. There was no clarity and roadmap behind the announcement,” Goel added.
Citing loopholes in the registration of RWAs in the city, Goel further said that giving financial power in hands of an RWA would lead to private corruption. “There is no mechanism to identify an RWA. Any 7 person can come up and get themselves registered as RWAs under Society Registration Act, 1860 with area’s SDM. There is no rigorous verification,” he explained.