Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) The Delhi cabinet Tuesday cleared a bill envisaging splitting the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) into three smaller units, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said.

“The proposed legislation to split the MCD into three units has been cleared by the Delhi cabinet. We will be submitting the detailed report to the home ministry either tomorrow or day after for approval,” she told reporters after the meeting.

Dikshit said the number of wards of the civic agency will remain the same. Currently, there are 272 wards in the MCD.

Besides the proposal to amend the Delhi Municipal Act, the bill also proposes reserving 50 percent of constituencies in the new civic units.

“We will constitute a Delhi Municipal Authority (DMA) which will coordinate the work between these three units. The Delhi Municipal Authority will work under the urban development department,” said Dikshit.

When asked whether the decision to split the MCD was politically motivated, Dikshit said: “It is not a politically motivated move. It is for the betterment for the civic administration. This set-up will streamline the delivery of services by the municipal bodies.”

Dikshit has been campaigning for the last four months for splitting the MCD. The move has been facing stiff opposition from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which controls the civic body, as well as some Congress leaders in the MCD.

The MCD is the largest civic agency in India and the second biggest in Asia, after the Tokyo local agency, in terms of geographical area, according to its spokesman. The civic agency handles 96 percent of Delhi’s land area and provides services to 98 percent of its population.