Metro Planning Committees Bill Does not Empower Mayor--Lok Satta

The Lok Satta Party today strongly criticized the provisions of the Metropolitan Planning Committees (MPCs) Bill passed by the Assembly yesterday. The party’s National Coordinator Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan said, “Instead of statutorily making Mayor the Chairperson of the MPC - so that the metro city governments are truly empowered, the Bill passed by the Assembly provides for the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson to be nominated by the State Government. This will only create a new neta-babu sarkari layer and yet another defunct government body at huge public expense. It will serve the only purpose of accommodating narrow partisan interests.”

“This will inevitably lead to a further centralization of governance along with increased inefficiency and corruption. All this, while the citizens in our cities continue to suffer due to poor water supply and drainage, bad roads and street lighting in neglected colonies and dilapidated slums, and are plagued daily by the menace of mosquitoes and stray dogs, ” he said.

He explained the Lok Satta Party’s stance on this issue: “MPCs should be made the statutory authorities in-charge of all developmental activities in the metro zone including the preparation and approval of zoning and master plans. They should be empowered to collect development fees and coordinate and oversee the functioning of various public/parastatal agencies for urban development, infrastructure and amenities like water supply and sewerage, power, roads, waste management along with transport, education and healthcare. MPCs should be an integral part of the local government setup, for coordinating between the municipalities, corporation and gram panchayats in the metro zone.’

“Specifically, in the case of Hyderabad, HUDA and HMWSSB should function under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Planning Committee. Unless all city functions are brought under one umbrella, there is no city government.

“Importantly, the Mayor of the largest metro city should be made the chairperson of the MPC. MPCs’ membership should not be based on narrow, partisan considerations. Only then can they prepare, coordinate and execute complex metropolitan developmental plans.”

He pointed out that “the very fact that only 67 MLAs were present to discuss and vote on the bill, exposed the insincerity of the two major parties and lack of commitment towards genuine empowerment of metropolitan cities. Both the present ruling party and its predecessor have demonstrated, on several previous occasions, their intent not to allow the devolution of powers and resources to local and city governments in our State.”