The Capital cannot become a smart city till ‘fighting’ among multiple agencies stops, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said at an event here on Saturday.
Organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the NDMC Convention Centre here, Mr. Sisodia called for ‘clarity’ in the Capital’s governance. Delhi Industries Minister Satyendar Jain was also present at the event.
There was, Mr. Sisodia argued, “total confusion” in Delhi owing to the multiplicity of agencies. “Until and unless we make our governance system smarter, no technology can help us,” he said.
Chaos prevails
“We have a Delhi that belongs to the DDA, a Delhi that belongs to L-G sahab , one Delhi that is of the Delhi Police, one Delhi that belongs to the NDMC. You need to bring clarity for becoming a smart city,” he said further. The Deputy Chief Minister said multiple agencies taking decisions for the people of Delhi resulted in “chaos”.
“There is hardly any coordination among these agencies for the welfare of Delhiites and they are fighting among themselves. In such circumstances, converting the present landscape of Delhi into a smarter city would not be possible,” he said.
Smart governance
Mr. Sisodia said smart governance is the core solution to develop a smart city in which a single authority is put in place to take decisions without any political ill will to provide a better life to citizens.
Mr. Jain concurred with Mr. Sisodia and accused the Delhi Development Authority and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi of being corrupt adding that the current system had become quite opaque and there needed to be transparency.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has started a scheme wherein resident welfare associations will be given ₹1.8 lakh per acre for the upkeep of parks, Mr. Jain said at the event.
He said forms for the same can be downloaded from the website of the Environment Department, and after filling them, the RWAs can contact local MLAs.
“The funds will be given to the resident welfare associations (RWA), irrespective of the parks belonging to any civic agency,” Mr. Jain said. (With PTI inputs)
