MCD Merge: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the merger of the three municipal corporations in Delhi. Now the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (Amendment) Bill is likely to be introduced in the ongoing budget session of Parliament. Government sources gave this information on Tuesday.
Sources said the integrated municipal corporation would be a well-equipped entity for proper and equitable utilization of financial resources which would reduce the rising liabilities, reduce the expenditure on the functioning of the three municipal corporations as well as improve the civic services of the capital.
He said that in order to ensure more robust delivery architecture for greater transparency, better governance and more efficient delivery of civic services to the people of Delhi, some more amendments have also been approved in the original Act of 1957. This amendment provides for a unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi by merging the existing three municipal corporations.
The erstwhile Delhi Municipal Corporation was bifurcated in 2011 into three municipal corporations – South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).
Sources said that the division of the corporation was uneven in terms of territorial division and revenue generating capacity of each corporation. As a result, the resources available to the three corporations had a larger gap than their obligations. Sources said that as the gap widened over time, the financial difficulties of the three municipal corporations increased, making them unable to pay salaries and retirement benefits on time to their employees, thereby making it difficult to maintain civic services in Delhi. Serious obstacles arose.