New Delhi

Rakesh Mehta all set for new innings

Sujay Mehdudia

Municipal Commissioner leaves on a happy note; credited with many reforms

NEW DELHI: Municipal Commissioner Rakesh Mehta, who is all set to re-join the Delhi Government on Monday as Principal Secretary (Health), will be best remembered for having introduced radical reforms and giving the corruption-ridden and cash-strapped Municipal Corporation of Delhi a better public face by substantially improving the delivery systems and making it a citizen-centric local body.

Though Mr.Mehta has left behind an unfinished agenda, he is of the view that his successor as Municipal Commissioner, Ashok Kumar Nigam, will carry forward the good work. "During these three-and-a-half years, my attempt has been to remove the wide gap between the people and the civic body by improving the service delivery system in the day-to-day functioning of the Corporation and I have succeeded to a large extent," Mr. Mehta told The Hindu during an informal chat on Saturday.

Apart from initiating major reforms, Mr. Mehta said his biggest achievement had been to review outdated laws and procedures to make them change-oriented; and also create a framework for higher accountability and fight corruption through public private partnerships.

"I leave the civic body at a time when one of the biggest investments is in the pipeline. The Corporation will invest nearly Rs. 1,000 crores in creating an infrastructure over the next two years that would include parking lots, a multi-storey state-of-the-art civic venture and other office building, work on which is already on," he stated.

Mr. Mehta said these projects were being funded through loans from financial institutions and were among the biggest investments made by the civic body during the past 45 years.

Mr. Mehta also has to his credit introduction of the progressive Unit Area Method house tax system. He also brought about radical changes in the laws by finalising the new building by-laws that are awaiting the Union Government's approval.

Stating that the biggest problem he faced when he took over was a rift between the people and the civic body, Mr. Mehta said his first step was to introduce e-governance and provide better services through Citizens Service Bureaus in each zonal office. Now this concept is being expanded to all the 134 wards. Through this system, issue of birth and death certificates, payment of taxes to the civic body, booking of parks, community halls are possible. It is now planned to include various other services like deposit of electricity, water and telephone bills and make the CSBs a one-stop service counter.

Apart from the success of the new property tax system, Mr. Mehta said the tendering process that was prone to corruption and manipulation had also been streamlined to a large extent. A new concept of tendering on the Internet has been started for all the purchase in engineering, sanitation, property tax departments and hospitals. A new system for carrying out works below Rs. 2 lakhs has been introduced through which the time taken for tendering for civil works would be cut down and works would be done at a faster pace. One of the major achievements has been introduction of quality testing of all works carried out by the civic body and this would improve its image and enable the works to be done in a certified quality manner.

On the issue of corruption, Mr. Mehta said strong steps had been taken during his tenure and 350 people were suspended or faced major penalty proceedings. In an attempt to eliminate corruption in various works, Mr. Mehta said public-private partnership was initiated in areas like municipal solid waste management, landfill sites, management of cremation grounds and parking lots.

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