As MHA introduces reunification Bill, civic officials rush to prep for merger

New Delhi: As Union Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai introduced the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to reunify the city's three civic bodies in Lok Sabha, officials in the municipal corporations here started scrambling to organise their departments and prepare everything to ensure as smooth a merger as possible.

The Bill states a "Special Officer" will be appointed to take care of matters within the MCD during the unification process. While there is no clarity on the extent of powers the special officer will be able to exercise during this time yet, they will be in charge of ensuring the merging of the three civic bodies without disrupting any ongoing projects and ensuring all processes remain operational.

As per a senior officer with South MCD, each department within the civic body will start working on a plan of action once the Bill is passed in Lok Sabha. They will then assess the situation and try to get rid of any liabilities they have in this period.

East MCD Deputy Controller of Accounts Hari Prasad said that the goal of the unification is to start with a clean slate and the unified MCD will need funds from the supplementary budget assigned for Union Territories to start without any liabilities. He added that the MCD cannot expect any help from the Delhi government once the Bill is passed and will have to depend on the Centre for funds entirely.

He also said that each department will have to develop an individual plan of action and the Special Officer along with a joint commissioner will be in charge of implementing the action plan for the merger of all the departments.

Another official explained that as soon as the special officer and a joint commissioner are appointed, the three civic bodies will enter planning mode. However, there is no way to ascertain what the process will look like at this stage as per the official even as experts say that these events will likely postpone the civic polls by at least five to six months. The plan to reunify the MCDs was thrust upon the State Election Commission earlier this month, minutes before it was prepared to announce the poll dates.

The Delhi Municipal Corporation was previously trifurcated in 2012. East MCD was relocated to a new headquarters; Udyog Sadan in Patparganj Industrial Area, while North and South MCD divided the Civic Centre on Minto Road to accommodate their separate departments. The three civic bodies have since functioned independent of each other and have worked within the limitations of their respective wards. With the trifurcation in place, each department within the MCD was also split into three. When the bill to unify MCDs is passed in the Lok Sabha, several officials will have to relocate and a unified headquarters will be created. The future of MCD remains uncertain until the bill is passed.