Though neither the Congress nor BJP have yet finalised their mayoral candidates for the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun, the present Mayor Vinod Chamoli is seen by some as a strong contender in the race for the ticket in the BJP.
Chamoli succeeded in initiating steps towards achieving promised developments. However, he states that the apathy of successive State Governments has prevented the MCD from enjoying the authority required to get necessary works done efficiently.
Making Dehradun a green and clean city, regularisation of slums and facilitating the desired level of development in Dehradun were top priorities in Chamoli's election manifesto. Work on the solid waste management project with Rs 24.6 crore under JNNURM has made Dehradun on of the 13 cities in India with door to door collection of garbage.
While Rs 2.5 crore were spent per annum on development works in the municipal wards in the past, this amount has now been increased to Rs six crore. Erecting uni-poles, street lights, facilitating the expansion of various intersections across the city and other developmental works have been facilitated in the five years that Chamoli was
in office.
He said, "Many of our proposals are pending with the State Government," adding that successive State Governments have ignored the need to empower urban local bodies which has also affected the MCD. Facilitating the empowerment of urban local bodies should be the first priority of the authorities, he added.
However, the Mayor's critics say that during the first four years of his tenure, the MCD should have achieved much more than it did because the BJP was in power in the State during that period.
Whoever is elected the next Mayor of Dehradun will face various challenges. Facilitating required increase in revenue and augmentation of MCD's resources including staff, ensuring the successful execution of the solid waste management project, effectively executing the decisions taken by the MCD Board like establishing the corporation's own CMI level hospital, its own petrol pump and other developmental works will be among the major challenges which will face the next Mayor.