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Challenges before Kejriwal
IANS spoke to former Delhi chief
secretary Shailaja Chandra who flagged some of the challenges Chief
Minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal would face in implementing his
election promises as he begins his second term in office:
* On
water and power: The main challenge would be to sustain the promise of
reduced power and water rates as both these are determined by the cost
at which you buy and sell them. The budget for Delhi is pretty stretched
and you have to give up something to accommodate this bonanza. It might
last for some months, but not indefinitely.
* On Delhi's
peculiar administrative and multi-tiered and dispersed governance
arrangement: I think if he sticks to this structure his best option is
to get the (four) municipal corporations to function. As the chief
minister of Delhi he has considerable authority to extract work from
them. But three civic bodies are with the BJP... so it has to be seen
whether this can be achieved. All matters converge on the civic bodies
like sanitation, roads, parking and garbage collection. Better
enforcement, stricter fines for littering and encroachment - if given a
direction - would show residents how a government can make the civic
bodies function.
But he wants to apparently bring the Swaraj
Bill, which I hear has already been drafted. The Swaraj Bill envisions
empowering the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) by giving them
funding from MLAs. This means they have to be empowered through
elections; otherwise you cannot give them public money.
But such
an election will run counter to the civic act. So the central government
has to clear it. Even if Kejriwal passes the bill in the Delhi
assembly, it will have to be cleared by the lt governor, who is bound to
send it to the Centre.
* On DDA: The Delhi Development Authority
has been formed under an act of parliament. It falls under the urban
development ministry. But if the central government goes by the
recommendations of the second Administrative Reforms Commission, then
the chief minister can chair the meeting of the DDA and it could give
him a say in subjects like land acquisition and planning and land
pooling.
But till now, the Centre has not done anything on it. It
will require a change in the DDA Act, but if Kejriwal pushes for it it
may be difficult to negate the request in view of his popularity.
*
On Delhi Police: He will not have a direct authority but can play an
effective role indirectly. There is a monitoring committee under the lt
governor and it meets fortnightly. Everything is discussed threadbare
and range-wise. At that meeting, it is more than possible for the chief
minister to bring up issues which have been brought to his notice like
crime figures going up and public resentment against crime rates... even
specific crimes and their investigation. The police will respond if the
CM brings up instances of mismanagement, apathy or negligence. After
all, they also have to respect an elected public representative - and
more so if it is the CM.
Also confidential reports on top
officials are written by the chief secretary and by the lt governor. If
the chief minister brings out clear cases of mishandling or corruption,
then it will reflect on the performance of the officers and they will
definitely become more responsive.
* On problems she faced when
she was chief secretary: Main problem in those days was that the MCD was
impervious to what was told to them. Grievances related to water
scarcity were easier to manage, but it was not possible to have that
kind of arrangement with MCD. So one felt unable to actually change what
was so evident like bad roads, desilting of drains, markets being badly
managed and the problems of encroachment because officers listened only
to MCD politicians.
It was impossible to make an impression on
them then as it was always treated as business as usual. A lot depends
on how assertive the government of the day is.