New Delhi: Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Tuesday sought greater accountability from urban and civic bodies and the police, saying it will "bridge the gap" between the government and the people.
"The ultimate aim is to ensure that institutions such as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) and Delhi Police are accountable to the elected government of Delhi."
"This will help bridge the gap between the government and the people by creating greater coordination among civic services with regard to service delivery," Jung said during his address to the first session of the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi.
Jung, who is also the chairman of DDA, which came out with the recent 'Housing Scheme 2014' faced a lot of flak for delays in conducting the draw of the scheme and in refunding the money to unsuccessful applicants, further affecting the housing authority, already "dented image" among the people.
The three BJP-led municipal corporations of Delhi, viz, the North, South and East Corporations created after the trifurcation of the erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in 2012 have been facing financial and other issues, besides problems cropping up due to "multiplicity of authorities."
The three civic bodies have been seeking help from the Delhi government, besides seeking release of their share of global funds from it.
East Delhi Mayor Meenakshi yesterday even alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was "not giving time" to her to discuss the financial situation of the cash-strapped East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), which is running into losses amounting to Rs 500 crore.
"Due to the ongoing financial woes, the EDMC has not been able to pay salaries to its staff and pension to its retired employees for the previous month and old-age pension or widow pension for the last 22 months," she said.
At the time of trifurcation, the Delhi government had promised an aid to compensate the financial losses but released "Rs 335 crore only as a loan".
Since then the civic body has "not received any financial help" from the Delhi government, EDMC has claimed.
The situation of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) are not so good either.
