Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and MlA from Delhi Cantonment Surinder Singh will be sworn-in as members of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on March 20. The decision comes after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a notification nominating the two legislators as members of the council. With this, the civic agency on Tuesday also finalised March 25 as the date for releasing its 2015-16 Budget. Besides, AAP MlA from Karawal Nagar, Kapil Mishra will be taking oath as the vice chairman of the Delhi Jal Board on Wednesday.
Nearly a month after Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as the Delhi Chief Minister, the MHA, on Tuesday, issued a notification nominating him and Singh to the council, sources in the Ministry confirmed. NDMC chairperson Jalaj Shrivastava is likely to administer the oath to the new members on March 20, which is the scheduled date for the council meeting. The civic body, however, is yet to receive the procedural notification. “We are awaiting the letter from the MHA which can be expected by Wednesday. The council meeting will be held in 10 days from now and the new members will be inducted then,” said Shrivastava.
Apart from Kejriwal who is also the MlA from New Delhi constituency and Singh, 1993 batch IAS officer of UP cadre, Punya Salila Shrivastava, will also take oath as a member of the council. The NDMC received the notification regarding Shrivastava’s nomination on Tuesday. He was earlier serving as Secretary (Education) as well as that of the Directorate of Training and Technical Education (TTE) and would be coming in place of Nila Mohanan as a nominated member in the council.
Once the new members assume office, the Budget for the coming financial year will be released on March 25. The Budget was earlier slated to be released on January but was postponed due to the Delhi Assembly elections. It was later scheduled on March 12. The Budget is likely to have an estimated expenditure of Rs3,000 crore and is likely to have fresh deadlines for the old projects, as deadlines for their completion have been missed repeatedly.
The Delhi CM had also asked the NDMC to give a point-by-point report on its key poll promises. “We have prepared our report and have submitted it to the Chief Minister’s office. It covers issues like reduction of wastage of water in Central Delhi and promotion of the use of lED bulbs to save energy,” said a senior official.