Capital paralysis: Who is responsible for running Delhi?

In the wake of each of these calamities, there has been plenty blame to go around, but no responsibility whatsoever.

Delhi is run by a host of departments broadly divided over three levels – the central government represented by the Lieutenant Governor (LG), the elected state government led by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the local civic body in the form of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

From roads, drains, underpasses to regulating urban expansion – the system was already complicated with a series of departments at three levels running the city, but the lines have further blurred over the past few years, with the Union Territory’s bureaucrats now working for their respective ministries, headed by elected AAP legislators, but reporting to the LG. It hasn’t helped that the LG and the AAP government have spent much of the past two years fighting. Not surprisingly, the first reaction to any tragedy is stakeholders pointing fingers at each other, rather than owning up lapses.

Delhi urban development minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, in a press conference, said that he called for interdepartmental meetings as far back as February, but no department secretaries turned up and his directions seeking updates on desilting were not heeded to. Bharadwaj said that only LG can act against the officers.

The LG’s secretariat, in turn, said that the departments concerned with desilting, drainage, sewerage, etc are the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), PWD, MCD and Irrigation and Flood Control, all under the AAP government. “AAP CM, ministers and mayor are directly responsible for them. LG despite having no control wrote on many occasions to CM about desilting and flooding to no avail.” Officials from the LG’s secretariat said that Saxena even called for a meeting of all ministers concerned with drainage, desilting, sewerage on April 2, 2024 but that “no minister bothered to come.”

Atul Goyal, president of URJA, an umbrella body of RWA in Delhi, said that deaths and failures in different parts of Delhi shows that there has been a complete governance failure. “It is a complete collapse of governance. The AAP is in government and municipality as elected government so they should be responsible, but the officers are under the Centre. Ultimately, it’s the people who are suffering. Either turn Delhi into a complete UT or a complete state.”

On July 27, after heavy showers, the road outside Rau’s IAS Circle on Saturday was filled with several feet of water. The drainage system was completely dysfunctional. The institute gate collapsed and the basement library was flooded trapping students.

LG VK Saxena, while ordering a probe, said that such incidents point towards “criminal neglect” and failure of basic maintenance and administration. Saxena blamed the “larger malaise of misgovernance that Delhi has been subjected to during the last decade or so.” The AAP has been in power in Delhi over the last decade.

Bharadwaj, in turn, released videos of an internal meeting on monsoon preparations held on June 28, alleging that officers did not listen to the elected government. In the videos, the ministers and officers can be seen squabbling over the lack of desilting.

The ministers-vs-bureaucrats tussle over drains management started as early as February 13 this year when Bharadwaj convened a meeting of senior officers from departments and agencies managing Delhi’s drains. But not a single IAS officer turned up, he said.

In the weeks that followed, Lok Sabha elections took over the attention of politicians and the matter was put on the backburner. On May 20, the minister said that he asked the chief secretary to submit desilting timelines, but received no response.

The chief secretary, in a letter dated June 6, stated that on May 20, he asked the additional chief secretary urban development department to submit the reports but received no response.

Bharadwaj forwarded the letter of the chief secretary to the Centre flagging the nature of his language and sought action against the officer. “No action has been taken yet,” Bharadwaj said.

Then on June 28, Delhi saw heavy downpour marking the arrival of monsoon leading to waterlogging and inundation leading to 11 deaths. The videos of arguments between Bharadwaj and IAS officers over de-silting of drains date back to the same day.

In Delhi, the elected AAP government does not currently control officers. Since Delhi is UT the central government does. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023 also commonly known as Delhi Services Act, in August 2023 extended the central government’s control of services and gives powers to LG over the Delhi government.

Ministers and LG have not seen eye to eye since. And there are at least 10 cases on the matter (and other ones involving the question of who is in charge) pending before the Supreme Court.

The two sides have been on opposing sides on several issues including the policy to decide water bill arrears, responsibility for the recent Munak canal breach and the summer’s water crisis, and issues such as air pollution.

URJA’s Goyal said that the problem also lies with people who bend the rules, officials, who are happy to facilitate this in return for gratification, and with political parties where a share of this money ultimately ends up. The parallel monitoring structures appointed by the courts such as monitoring committee on building violations and EPCA have been either disbanded or rendered powerless, he added.

Delhi’s housekeeper – MCD – is responsible for upkeep and maintenance of 94% of its geographical area. MCD has an AAP-led deliberative wing of councillors that formulates policies and an executive wing of officials expected to implement these on ground. But rendering the structure complex, the executive wing is headed by a commissioner appointed by the BJP-led central government.

The three erstwhile corporations were unified in May 2022 in the hope that this would improve administration. MCD elections were held in December 2022 in which the AAP won a simple majority. But 20 months after the elections, MCD still remains incomplete in the absence of key panels like standing committee, wards committees for zonal supervision among 22 panels.

On the ground, this translates to hundreds of hurdles.

A senior MCD official said on condition of anonymity that most of the projects above ₹5 crore need approval from the standing committee, and all major projects – more than 60 in number – also need clearance. “MCD has been operating on day to day functions on piecemeal basis. Moreover, there is a general atmosphere of mistrust and animosity between the officials and AAP functionaries,” this official added.

Over the past 18 months, the house of councillors has seen repeated disruptions and in some cases even viole. “Since the AAP government was formed in the MCD, BJP has not allowed the House to function smoothly even for a single day,” mayor Oberoi said after the June meeting which lasted for just 20 minutes.

The lack of committees and house discussions also translate to accountability of officers not being fixed. Last June, a fire in Mukherjee Nagar prompted the students to jump out of windows leading to public outrage over lack of safety. In the wake of fire, Delhi high court, issued a series of orders to check safety norms at educational centres, but little seems to have come from that.

Even in the case of Rau’s, a complaint was lodged with MCD and if it had acted on time, the three lives could have been saved. A Karol Bagh resident and student, Kishor Singh Kushwaha, filed a complaint against “classes being carried out illegally in the basement” at Rau’s on June 26. No action was taken.

A 26-year-old chartered accountant Veer Singh who lives in Rajendra Nagar to prepare for the civil services exam said: “Every year when it rains, the roads are flooded here. Multiple complaints have been made to different agencies but nothing ever happens. We get sewer water in our taps on many days but there has been no action. Every agency is making money and students are dying.”