MCD reunification: Employees wary of ways to deal with already strained financial situation

New Delhi: The Delhi Municipal Corporation is set to be reunited after 10 years of function as three civic bodies — North, South and East in 2022. A bill to unify the civic bodies was in the Lok Sabha on 30 March. The merger will formally take place on May 22 as per the Central government's announcement.

The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendement) Act 2022 was introduced by the Centre as a way of dealing with the increasing 'financial liabilities' of the MCDs. The three civic bodies, especially East and North MCD have faced an ever declining shortage of funds since their inception in 2012. Even South MCD, the only MCD with a surplus and substantially more revenue, has suffered several financial difficulties in the last years. The purpose of the reunification was to ensure that these financial strains can be removed and the local governing bodies can function without any difficulties.

However, employees of the three civic bodies are unsure as to how the financial liabilities will be dealt with in the upcoming future. No specified plan or introduction of any new funds have been mentioned in discussions regarding the civic bodies. The Centre despite protests from opposition regarding lack of a financial plan pushed forth the bill. Several employees have raised questions as to how the civic body plans to deal with the already strained financial situation.

A South MCD official said: "Despite having almost two months to come up with a plan, no clarity has been given to us about our future in MCD. We are unaware of how our projects will be funded, if any new projects will be undertaken and how they plan to fill the large quarters they have".

Another civic body official stated that many employees are unsure of their positions now, since during the trifurcation, employees of lower levels were shifted to higher posts and a lot of shuffling took place.

They added: "We are unsure if we will be getting regular pay moving forward".

An East MCD official from the financial department explained that regardless of the reunification, until MCD decides to increase taxes, there will be no revenue gain. The civic bodies have increased taxes since 2004 despite growing in terms of employees, projects and other costs constantly. He blamed the lack of increased tax rates for the financial strains the MCD is currently under.

East MCD is currently unable to pay salaries of several employees in the last five months, similarly, North MCD employees have had to resort to protesting for salaries time and again in the past years. While plans to merge are clear, no plans to deal with the financial situation of the civic body have been confirmed.