Residents to help councillors in deciding funds

NEW DELHI: With an aim to connect better with residents of Delhi, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is launching a new initiative - resident ward committee - under which RWAs will assist councillors in deciding expenditure for development work in their wards. The initiative will be launched by Delhi Mayor P R Sawhney on Wednesday.
"This will ensure better coordination between resident welfare associations and MCD.RWAs are better informed about the pertinent problems. They can provide quality inputs when it comes to the development of the ward," said Sawhney.
It will be mandatory for all councillors to conduct a monthly meeting with all RWA representatives from his/her ward. The minutes of the resident ward committee meeting will be sent to the Mayor's office. "Councillors will be expected to prepare a list of important development work which needs to be done in their respective areas. Depending on the priority list, councillors will allocate funds. When MCD is spending so much money for the development of the city, we should take into consideration the problems faced by our citizens and try to solve it.,'' said Sawhney.
Till now, councillors used to spend money depending on their whims and fancies. Residents of that area had little say in it. "In fact, residents never got to know where the money was spent. Now, when all RWAs will sit together and prepare a list of all works which need to be done in the ward, people will know what the demands raised by various RWAs are and how the money is being spent. At present, councillors often spend on the development of parks whereas residents want roads to be repaired. Apart from the councillors' fund, this committee will also help in deciding about other funds spent on development-related work by MCD in each ward,'' said Amit Aggarwal, member of Vasant Kunj RWA.