NEW COMMITTEES, NO GUARANTEE FOR CORRUPTION-FREE MCD

THE much delayed elections to the committees of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been concluded.

With the BJP winning seven wards and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) five wards, the main committee of the corporation – the Standing Committee would be controlled by the BJP.

But will that bring any qualitative change to the miserable civic conditions of the city? Unlikely. The elections were preceded by open horse trading between the two parties, with half-adozen corporators from the AAP crossing over to the BJP. This was followed by a dramatic 'ghar wapasi' (home coming) by one to the AAP. The filth on the roads of Delhi mirrors the filth which constitutes the corporation.

In the common parlance, MCD is at times called the most corrupt department and not the municipal corporation of Delhi.

The corporators are famously known as 'lintermen'. Why this name? It's known that whenever somebody builds a home in the national capital, as soon as the net of iron bars are put together for laying the linter (reinforced concrete cement roof), the corporator of the area arrives on the scene.