Indian Express 19.01.2010
Control over MCD: Sheila to write to PMO ‘soon’
After Home Minister P Chidambaram refused to grant the Delhi government additional powers over the MCD, the government now plans to send a detailed proposal to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
“We are studying the matter and will write to the PMO soon,” Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said after a Cabinet meeting on Monday.
Following Dikshit’s persistent efforts to put an end to multiplicity of authorities in Delhi, the Centre had delegated powers to the government, including a say in the appointment of municipal commissioner. But it withheld pertinent powers like division of MCD zones, changing of bylaws, and transferring of roads and streets under MCD to other agencies.
These powers are still subject to the Centre’s permission.
Dikshit had written back to the Home Ministry, refusing to accept half-baked control over the civic agency and sought reconsideration of the issue. But the Centre refused to extend to it additional powers.
While Dikshit has now decided to approach the PMO, sources said her Cabinet colleagues and government officers are willing to accept the current provisions made by the Centre. They prefer to take the issue gradually forward, sources said.
Meanwhile, after freezing a land deal in Old Delhi to build a 100-room luxury hotel, involving Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal, the government is now collecting documentary evidence and will send it to the Centre. “We will collect all necessary information and hand it over to the L-G. It is for him to decide further,” Revenue minister Rajkumar Chauhan said
