MCG 'monthly' meet 22 times in 6 yrs

Times of India: Gurgaon: Tuesday, 17 March 2015.

An RTI response has revealed that the MCG has held only 22 House meetings since its inception in 2008, whereas according to the Act, the civic body is required to have at least one meeting every month.

This is less than half the number of such meetings it should have had so far even though there is no restriction on the number of House meetings the elected body can hold in a month.

Though the elected representatives have shown scant regard so far towards these House meetings, the situation is likely to change in the coming days given the fact that the MCG elections are due in a year's time.

In fact, in the last House meeting that was held last week, most of the councillors appeared to be in election mode already, as they were imploring the officials to expedite the development works in their respective wards for the fear that they might not be voted back to power.

Sources said that one of the major reasons for not having these important House meetings regularly is because of the lack of coordination between the councillors and the civic body officials. In fact they keep blaming each other for not having these meetings.

Moreover the agenda that is prepared before every House meeting has remained more or less the same over these four years, with a few exceptions. Most of the items on the agenda are listed in order to benefit private builders, the sources said.

"MCG House meetings should be treated as sacrosanct as it is here where various issues bothering the residents are discussed in order to find an appropriate solution. Decisions are also taken regarding how to develop this city. However, it is disheartening to find out the dismal track record of the MCG," said Aseem Takyar, the RTI applicant.

When contacted, mayor Vimal Yadav said that House meeting would be held regularly hereon. "Just last week, we had this meeting and we will have it again later this month. The local MP, too, has shown much interest in attending the House meetings and we will ensure that we will have them regularly," he said.