The Delhi Cabinet on Thursday approved formation of Mohalla Sabha in all 70 Assembly constituencies across the city. The 2,972 Mohalla Sabhas created by the AAP Government across Delhi will be empowered to decide on the developmental works in their respective areas.
Each of these Sabhas will cover 3,000-6,000 population and three polling booths on an average. Each Mohalla Sabha would be geographically contiguous and consist of a group of polling stations depending upon the size, geography of the area. The move assumes significance in the run-up to the 2017 municipal polls as it may help increase the party’s presence in the 272 wards.
Each mohalla will have a unique four digit number based on the Assembly constituency number and the Mohalla number (0404,6432). The first two digits indicate the assembly constituency number and the next two digits indicate the Mohalla Sabha number within that Assembly constituency.
Each district will have around 300-350 Mohalla Sabhas. One Assembly constituency will comprise of at least 40 Mohalla Sabha. Through these Sabhas, the people will make suggestions to the Government as to what projects should be taken up in their localities keeping in mind the requirements.
Only those registered as voters at the polling centres where Mohalla Sabhas are held can take part in the exercise. MlAs will also contribute from their fund of Rs 4 crore to implement the decisions taken at these public meetings.
“Mohalla Sabhas were envisioned as a local unit of governance which would not only empower the community by giving decision making powers but will also help in making the governance and delivery of services efficient and transparent in nature. The idea is to empower the citizens to discuss, deliberate and decide on the works to be undertaken in their locality. At Mohalla level, it is proposed to have two mohalla coordinators one as coordinator and one co-ordinator and at least one of them should be a female for each Mohalla. The coordinator and coordinator would be paid Rs 5,000 per month to meet transportation and other expenses. Expenditure for publicity, discrimination of information, printing and distribution of pamphlets, arrangement of meeting will be Rs 1.20 lakh per annum per mohalla,” the Cabinet proposal said.
Each cluster (one assembly constituency having 40 Mohalla Sabha) would be under Project Manager who will oversee the functioning of all the Mohalla Sabha in the cluster. At district level, Project director would be responsible execution of development works. Project director would be assisted by a team of engineers/system analyst/financial analyst apart from project manager working at the assembly level. For managing a project of this scale, involving all the departments and residents of the state, a Project Management Unit is propose to be set up at state level.
The PMU would be headed by a dedicated full time CEO who will work closely with the District Urban Development Authority.
According to official, the Government has conducted detailed ground survey for the delimitation of Mohalla Sabhas based on the inputs gathered from locals, public representatives and officials about the area according to which Mohalla Sabhas have been demarcated.
“GIS mapping of each Mohalla was done by a dedicated team of experts using satellite maps and data was collected during the ground survey through My Tracks-a Google enable android application to ensure precision in delimitation. Delhi Finance Minister Manish Sisodia had announced provision of Rs 350 crore under Citizen lAD scheme for 2016-17, which will be equally distributed among all 2972 Mohalla Sabhas,” officials said.
last year, the Government had organised such Sabhas in 11 Assembly constituencies on an experimental basis, allocating Rs 20 crore for each constituency to execute civic projects.
As per the Cabinet decision, each Mohalla Sabha will hold meetings every two months. Moreover, each Mohalla Sabha will be given a time-frame of about six months to initiate the process of the election of a committee comprising community representatives.
According to officials, the Government is clear that Mohalla Sabha will not interfere with the existing constitutional layers of governance of the Centre, the State and municipalities, the fact remains that a fresh layer of administration will be added to the Capital’s profile.
“All the employees will be hired on a contractual basis either directly or through any other Government empanelled agency.
Delhi has different kinds of areas like JJ cluster, unauthorised colonies, rural villages, urban villages, planned colonies and group housing societies.