Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced Rs 10 crore citizens fund for the residents of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). Incidentally, Kejriwal termed this initiative as the concept of Swaraj (Self Rule). Regarding the fund, RWAs will now take decision in residents General Body Meetings (GBM).
Informing the RWAs of the unique initiative of Citizens Fund, the Chief Minister said, “A budget of Rs 10 crore sanctioned in the NDMC budget would now be spent on the wishes of the citizens of the area. You will be the decision makers of what needs to be done in your area and the priority. We are starting this experiment this year with a budget of Rs 10 crore and it will be increased after seeing the results in the first year. We will also increase the scope of work looking at the results of the experiment this year. The division of the money between the RWAs will be done on the basis of number of quarters”.
The residents of the RWAs of NDMC area will themselves decide on the works which would be executed using the sanctioned budget.
The announcement was made by the Chief Minister, who presides over the NDMC meetings by virtue of being the elected representative of the New Delhi Constituency, in accordance with the NDMC Act 1994, in a meeting with more than 80 RWAs, in presence of the NDMC Chairperson and other officials.
Kejriwal interacted with the RWAs members and discussed problems like - CCTV cameras, toilets, borewells etc., were discussed during the meeting.
Notably, the norms on how to spend the sanctioned money also discussed in meeting and it was decided unanimously that the General Body of the RWA will decide on the works to be done in their meetings. “GBM will take the decision on the works and budget allocation to different works. Before the GBM, notices must be sent to all the residents as well as the NDMC,” discussed in meeting.
The NDMC will depute its representative for the meeting. Video recording will also be done of the meetings.
“This citizen's fund of Rs. 10 crore has been especially earmarked for you. And I believe that the small problems we are discussing here today would be solved easily now with you getting the power to spend according to your wishes,” said Kejriwal.