To ensure better civic amenities in the Capital, the three municipal corporations of Delhi have asked the city Government to transfer all the civic functions, prescribed under the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, to them. “The Delhi Government should transfer civic services taken from municipal corporations with grant as per the 74th amendment of Constitution,” said Standing Committee Chairman of South Delhi Municipal Corporation Subhash Arya.

Arya said that in the last 15 years, the Delhi Government had taken charges of many civic services, including Delhi Jal Board and fire department, which were previously under the erstwhile MCD. Arya said the Government will have to pass a proposal to strengthen the corporation along with grant for better delivery of services.

With the trifurcation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the financial condition of the corporations has weakened further and the shrunken hold on a number of civic services has hampered the corporations’ growth. “East Delhi Corporation is also looking forward to strengthening the corporation. With the trifurcation things have gone haywire. Now we want the Government to return us some civic services along with grants,” said EDMC Standing Committee Chairman BB Tyagi.

The 74th amendment of the Constitution provides a basis for the State legislatures to transfer various responsibilities to civic bodies and to strengthen municipal-level governance. During the trifurcation of MCD in 2012, the then city Government had promised to provide enough grants to all three corporations to liquidate their financial liabilities to zero.

However, the Congress could not come to power in all three newly created municipal corporations and the Delhi Government had backed out of the assurance. The Government had stopped timely release of Municipal Reform Fund, Development Fund for projects, Global Share and different loans.  This leads to financial crises in east and north civic bodies, officials said.

The SDMC Standing Committee Chairman urged the Government to strengthen the corporations by transferring civic services immediately. Arya said that unification of three corporations will help in better delivery of services to people of Delhi.