Multiciplicity of authorities hampering Delhi's progress: Ahluwalia

New Delhi, Aug 24 (UNI) A multiplicity of administrative controls was impeding Delhi's growth as a world class city, Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said today.

''I admit that the multiplicity of authorities is a major impediment to good governance,'' he said at a function where he released the first Human Development Report of the city-state.

The report pointed out that Delhi's governance was complicated because while the state government controlled some functions, other key areas were under the control of the union government.

''The governance challenge of Delhi...is to cope with multiple authorities and competing jurisdictions'', it said. For example, schools in the capital are run by either the state government, aided institutions, by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, by the NDMC, by the Delhi Cantonment Board or private unaided schools.

The Delhi police, the MCD, the Delhi Development Authority and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) were under Central control.

While noting that water and power shortages had been identified by citizens as their main problems, Dr Ahluwalia noted that Delhi was yet to learn to harness Yamuna waters.

The technical feasibility of cleaning up and using the river's water ought to be studied as part of a long-term plan to meet the city's water requirement, he said.

Earlier, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the multiplicity of authorities acted as ''speedbreaker'' on Delhi's development. ''We don't have the powers that other states have. The multiplicity of authorities bring about an absence of accountability,'' she said.

She said the HDR would be used as a ''guiding force'' by all government departments to achieve the target of equitable resource distribution among the people. Similar reports would be commissioned every two years, she said.

Dr Ahluwalia hoped similar HRDs would be prepared in the country's other metropolitan cities also as they strive to improve people's living standard.

UNI VN RL HS1821