Good days are coming for MCD too: Delhi Mayors on BJP win

Buoyed by Narendra Modi-led BJP's emphatic victory in the lok Sabha polls, mayors of Delhi have claimed that "hurdles imposed" on the MCD by previous Congress regimes in the state and the Centre would now be cleared and "stalled work" in all three civic bodies would get expedited.

Mayors of both North and South Delhi hailed the party's landslide win in the elections that saw BJP storming to power at the Centre with a clear majority by bagging 282 seats.

The mayors believe the road has been cleared for a better and "more streamlined MCD" in the greater interest of the citizens of the national capital.

"Desh ke acche din aa gaye, ab nagar nigam ke bi acche din aane wale hayn. (Good days have come for the country, now good days are coming for the MCD too)," North Delhi Mayor Yogender Chandolia told PTI today.

Chandolia also served as a chairman of the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, just before its trifurcation into North Delhi (NDMC), East Delhi (EDMC) and South Delhi (SDMC) municipal corporations in 2012.

BJP swept lok Sabha polls in Delhi too winning all seven seats after having a made a clean sweep in the recently held Mayoral polls.

"Dikshit government here and the Congress regime at the Centre only imposed hurdles for the working of the MCD. When we had asked them for assistance, they burdened us with loans. Several hundred crore is still due to MCD from 2007. And, trifurcation has created its own share of problems like clearance of pensions, library funding among others," Chandolia said.

The North Delhi Mayor added that once Modi is officially sworn-in as the Prime Minister, a meeting would be set up between him and the three mayors.

"Once Modiji officially assumes power at the Centre, we will go and request for release of the amount that is due to the MCD from the Congress regime and we would also ask for waiver of loans that that the civic bodies have been burdened with by the previous government," he said.

"We have already asked our commissioner and civic officials to round up details on the accounts," he said.

Reiterating his stand on the trifurcation issue, Chandolia said, he had always believed in a unified civic body for the capital and that he would take up the issue with the party once the new government is set up.

"I believe a unified MCD is better than trifurcated ones, and though the state BJP unit has a trifurcated MCD in its manifesto, we will raise the matter once the new regime is set up," he said.

South Delhi Mayor Khushi Ram, who had won the top municipal post by a solitary margin in a contest which saw Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit failing to exercise his franchise leaving his party red-faced, concurred that "Good days are coming for the municipal corporation too".

"Whatever happens from here on will only be in the interest and welfare of Delhi citizens only. We have all seven MPs from BJP too and our work is going to be smoother from here onwards. With Congress out of the way, the weak link in the chain has been removed," Ram said.

Chandolia's predecessor Azad Singh also welcomed the BJP's victory as a "good sign" for the municipal corporations, which he alleged had so far been meted out "stepmotherly" treatment by the outgoing UPA regime.

"Ab sab ruke kaam chal padenge. Kendra ne to bahut accha to nahi kiya tha hamare (MCD) ke saath. (Now, all stalled works will be restarted. The Centre did not treat us very well)," the former North Delhi Mayor said.

The BJP triumph in the mayoral polls wasn't for the first time, as it has ruled the MCD for past seven years.

"Earlier, when we would complain about some issues to the state or the Centre, no one would heed to them. Now, we can even think of escalating the matter to the Home Ministry. Good days are indeed here," Chandolia claimed.