Suggestions made to the Chief Minister of Delhi about three months back, to no avail.

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Suggestions made to Mr Arvind Kejriwal (CM, Delhi) for
Improving Delhi’s Civic administration
Shantanu Basu
In sheer desperation as a Delhi resident witness to the complete withering of the
city, I wrote to Arvind Kejriwal on Jan 25, 2016. All I received was a prompt
acknowledgement from his Principal Secretary. I made the following
suggestions, implementing even a tenth of which may have saved Delhi from
further physical deterioration. However, mine is a lone voice. Unless others
come forward with their suggestions, precious little is likely to happen for the
better. At the same time, fault-finding is an easy task, making suggestions albeit
more difficult.
A. School buildings: There are several GNCTD and municipal schools that are
dotted all over Delhi. Sometimes elementary, secondary and high schools are
housed in separate buildings, often within a radius of a kilometre or two. Many
of these are housed in low-rise (double-storied at best) buildings. In this regard
you may like to consider adding an extra two storeys, structure permitting, to
the high school and shift the secondary school to the new premises. Alternately
why not have a 6-8 storied structure in schools that have large playgrounds?
First construct the new building and then demolish the old one to restore the
playground. Similarly, elementary schools that are located in a 2 km radius of
each other could be merged. This would free up land that could be diverted to
alternative and remunerative purposes to cross-subsidise the new school
buildings.
B. JV for schools: As stated in sub-para (a) above, new school buildings would
require large capital funding that may not be available with GNCTD. Is it
possible that qualified private institutions are roped in to renovate/construct and
run GNCTD and municipal schools on a negotiated long-term lease basis and
providing an annual RoI of, say 12-15% after depreciation, etc.?
ii. Such schools would provide a shift each for present students and a second
one for higher fee-paying students and determine terms and conditions of their
teaching and non-teaching personnel. GNCTD could contemplate a tiffin
allowance of Rs. 500/month/student for non-fee paying students to attract more
kids to join and stay on. This step would help to vastly upgrade school
infrastructure making them comparable with better-than-average private schools
and relieve recurrent school admission controversies and malpractices.

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iii. These schools could also be allowed to charge students for additional
facilities such as school buses, swimming pool, tennis/squash courts, lunch
coupons etc. These amenities could also be used after school hours, by residents
of adjoining residential areas for a fixed slightly below market monthly fee (as
in many US states) since few can afford club membership nor will probably get
one in their lifetime. These would also obviate the need to spend on citizens’
recreation centres.
C. Integrating high schools with state universities: GNCTD also runs
arts/professional/law universities in Delhi. Accordingly, it may be a good idea
to start incubation centres in the shape of high schools on university campus
specialized to the courses offered by this humanities/law
school/medical/engineering colleges with a ceiling limit of not more 500-1000
students/school. The schools would benefit from the facilities the universities
possess, driving down establishment costs of these schools. Declaring these as
centres of excellence would also attract fee-paying students from outside Delhi
if university faculty is drawn partly to teach these students. GNCTD could
contemplate scholarships of up to Rs. 50000 for high achievers to meet cost of
books and other educational material subject to maintaining at least a ‘B+’ or
equivalent grade in successive years. These schools, run by private agencies,
would create a body of students that specialize in a specific academic discipline
and promote better quality of scholarship and more successful transition to
university and beyond.
D. Integrating small and large state and municipal hospitals: Following the
school model I have suggested at sub-para (C) above, this practice may be
extended to hospitals/PHCs/FWCs such that every Delhi citizen has access to
good quality health care not more than within a 5 km. radius from his/her
residence. This measure will not only reduce O&M overheads on multiple
clinics but create high-quality one-stop facilities for residents of Delhi.
E. Group Health Insurance for Delhi’s residents: To sustain sub-para (D) above,
GNCTD may contemplate a group health insurance cover for Delhi residents,
including outpatient and medicine/tests costs, that provide proof of permanent
residence (EPIC, etc.) linked to age and not exceeding Rs. 20 lakh/annum for a
maximum family size of four persons. Except for slum and resettlement areas
and areas classified by MCDs as Category ‘E’ and lower (for property taxes), all
other opting residents would have to prepay 50% of the annual premium
directly to the insurer that will administer this scheme.
F. Introduce electric vehicles in Delhi: If (D) above were implemented, is it
possible that all autos in Delhi could be converted to electric ones? Equally, is it
possible to introduce battery-powered small city taxis (Nano, Alto, etc.) in
Delhi?

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G. Prepaid electric vehicle charging: Since Delhi’s private discoms have
overhead power lines for streetlights in nearly all residential and office areas, it
may be worthwhile to explore whether pre-paid electric vehicle charging points
can be provided on the streetlight poles. This would help GNCTD in
popularizing the use of electric vehicles (including autos and taxis) on Delhi’s
roads and help reduce vehicular pollution in Delhi.
H. Introduce prepaid CBD entry toll in all business districts of Delhi: Given
huge traffic in Delhi’s commercial/office areas like Nehru Place and Connaught
Place and to reduce vehicular pollution, GNCTD may like to introduce a
monthly CBD toll @ Rs. 5000/month or Rs. 300/entry/car and two-thirds that
for two and three-wheelers. A 10-15% discount could be allowed for an annual
ticket. Access to these areas could be by manned/unmanned toll gates/lanes for
Connaught Place on all radial roads converging on the inner circle. These could
be operated by private contractors who will set up the facilities and operate
them in the same manner as schools at sub-para (A) above. Prepaid tariffs
would make the proposal attractive for private operators and assure liquidity in
operations.
I. Introduce parking fees in all major shopping areas: A flat parking fee of Rs.
30 for the first hour and Rs. 20 for each subsequent hour may be mandatorily
implemented in all major markets, such as Market No. 1 & 2 in CR Park. Here
too, monthly/annual passes may be contemplated to minimize evasion by
private contractors and enhance GNCTD’s liquidity.
J. Raise parking charges for private vehicles: The ceiling limit on one-time
parking charges (non-fee areas) of Rs. 4000 should be raised to at least Rs.
30000 for non-electric/CNG cars up to 4 metres length and Rs. 60000 beyond
that. For non-electric two wheelers, parking charges should be raised to at least
Rs. 10000 per vehicle. These would provide resources to GNCTD for the
maintenance and upkeep of roads in the city.
K. Impose cess for improving civic amenities: GNCTD may impose, by law, a
5-10% cess on the net property tax paid by residential property owners and 20%
for commercial properties to improve the civic amenities in Delhi and to cope
with rapidly converted single homes into multi-family residential properties.
These proceeds may be credited by municipal corporations to a non-lapsable
captive Delhi Development Fund and expenditure on improvement met from
there.
L. Prepaid credit cards for availing unified GNCTD and municipal utilities:
GNCTD offers several utilities/services such as liquor shops, DTC, DJB, public
wi-fi, parking fees, stamp and other court fees, entry/octroi taxes and fees, etc.
Is it possible that Paytm cards are sold like mobile phone cards? This measure

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would also improve the liquidity of GNCTD, attract service providers, reduce
rent-seeking and evasion of legitimate dues by contractors.
M. Unified maintenance of residential and commercial areas: Each such area
ought to be handed over to a single contracted agency that would maintain the
roads and parks, markets, road signage, traffic signals, street lights, etc., collect
property taxes, parking fees, sell prepaid cards for GNCTD services, accept
payments on behalf of GNCTD, etc.
N. Unified data centre: GNCTD may also consider an unified data centre that
would bring together databases of the municipal corporations on lands and
buildings, taxes, etc., excise and other licenses, water and electricity
connections, motor vehicle registration, driving licenses and permits,
monitoring of traffic signals, municipal and PWD public works, enlistment of
contractors and payments to them, deployment of employees, collection of
parking fees, etc. All involved private parties could be charged a mandatory
premium for alerts and Internet access to the data, on secured basis. This would
radically improve revenue collection and real time monitoring of public projects
while increasing the level of transparency and accountability manifold.
O. TV & FM stations for GNCTD: This facility would not only provide a
propaganda platform for GNCTD but also become a forum for discussions on
issues that affect Delhi’s residents apart from carrying local news and
information. GNCTD officers could disseminate the achievements of their
respective depts. and answer call-in questions from Delhi’s residents. Local
businesses could buy advertisement space and sponsor telecast of local events.
Special events, even family ones, could be covered, for a sizeable fee. GNCTD
also ought to have its own public grievance redressing platform on all major
social media.
P. Redefine role of RWAs: A captive law needs to be enacted to regulate
RWAs. Such legislation ought to provide a regulator for RWAs to interact with
their constituents and be empowered to receive and remit GNCTD and
municipal dues, demand O&M supportfrom GNCTD contractors for as per sub-
para (m) above, socially audit the quality of services of such contractors and file
complaints with GNCTD against contractors’ failures and receive
compensation, whenever warranted. They could also receive a lump sum grant
of Rs. 6000-9000/member/annum from GNCTD. RWA accounts however, will
be subject to audit by CAs appointed by GNCTD and submit their audited
accounts to the regulator annually. Elections to these bodies will be held
annually with the Returning Officer appointed by the regulator. As usual, all
extant civil and criminal laws shall apply in fullest measure to RWA office
bearers that would be taken up by the regulator. Enhancing the role of RWAs
would not only involve residents in their own governance but also relieve

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GNCTD/municipalities of high costs of monitoring and quality of service, aside
from providing sources of income for RWAs within an effective regulatory
regime.
Q. Sweeping of roads and pavements: Although GNCTD proposes, per media
reports, to introduce mechanised sweeping from Apr 1, 2016, yet such exercise
would be complete only if internal roads that are usually choc-a-bloc with
parked vehicles at all hours, are blown with petrol-motor operated shoulder-
mounted portable power blowers (that can access areas under vehicles), the dust
blown to major arteries from where larger truck-mounted suction machines can
pick up the garbage and dust. While this would certainly augment the daily
output of sanitation staff, yet the expenses would be relatively high. I therefore
suggest that sanitation contractors may be permitted to use traffic and street
light poles, intersections, markets, community garden fences, GNCTD buildings
and market terraces etc. to generate advertising revenue so that at least 50% of
their recurring and capital expenses (including 10-15% RoI/annum) are on
sanitation are met by them, the balance being paid by GNCTD. Given high
capital cost, GNCTD could advance a mobilization fee to contractors and adjust
it in instalments against 50% dues to contractors every month over a span of 3-5
years.
R. Sweeping of community markets: Since most markets centre on shops that
have been bought from civic authorities or built on leased land belonging to
such agencies, the legal onus of keeping such markets ought to be entirely on
shop owners who earn healthy revenue from these establishments while
generating large amounts of garbage, including animal waste. You may
therefore like to authorize the sanitation contractors at sub-para Q above to
notify and periodically revise sweeping and sanitation charges for all
community markets on actual basis to all shop owner/keeper associations.
However, GNCTD would have to have mobile enforcement teams to check on
the performance of contractors for sub-paras Q&R.
S. Utilizing new underground parking lots: A new underground parking lot that
is coming up on the Kalkaji Main Road (opp. Deshbandhu College) for the last
3-4 years is perhaps to be commissioned by March, 2016. However, I am not
aware how GNCTD proposes to force utilization of this lot. One way could be
to declare no-parking zones on the Kalkaji Main Road and all other arterial
roads leading to Nehru Place, CR Park, Govindpuri and Kalkaji Extension as
no-parking zones. To speed up traffic, the traffic roundabouts at B-Block and F-
Block (near the CGHS dispensary) Kalkaji could be removed and replaced with
traffic lights. 50-60 self-ticketing buses of 15-20 seats each could ferry
passengers to and from this parking lot at 10 minute intervals, in the same
manner as DMRC’s feeder buses. These would also generate employment.

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T. Replacing Grameen Seva and regular autorickshaws: These rickshaws that
carry 6 passengers have become a public nuisance and menace at the Nehru
Place-Kalkaji crossing. Instead buses described at sub-para ‘S’ above with a
20% sales tax rebate for all replacements within 6 months can be contemplated.
This could be extended to other passenger and cargo auto vans that are slow,
particularly on flyovers and inclines and notoriously unstable and unsafe. Over
the next 2-3 years these could be replaced by four-wheeled TATA Magic, Bajaj
and other mini-vans that would carry more passengers and permit a
pooling/point-to-point route, cutting down on traffic congestion and resultant
vehicle emissions. To induce the transition, GNCTD could consider granting an
interest subsidy of 4-5% on replacement purchases plus an assured junk value
for the traded three-wheeler and offer limited to two years only.
U. Use of solar energy by LT consumers: GNCTD may consider providing
interest subsidy of 7-8%% on commercial borrowing rate for installing rooftop
solar power generators and water heaters with options for off-grid and on-grid
consumption. This scheme would be operated by PSBs that would claim the
subsidy from GNCTD. An annual budget allocation of Rs 300 crore would
suffice to cover solar energy loans of up to Rs. 2400-3000 crore/annum.
Assuming an average cost of a one KW power generator with battery back-up at
around Rs. one lakh, 2.40-3 lakh residential units would benefit per annum, the
number doubling if 0.5 KW output were provided. Low energy output cost and
resultant savings would attract many home and shop/office owners/tenants. The
resultant power saved could be traded by GNCTD’s TRANSCO where resultant
revenue generation would be higher since Delhi receives ample sunshine except
in Dec-Jan. Pollution levels would also decline considerably.
V. Trimming of trees: Although an emotive issue with environmentalists,
trimming of non-fruit trees in winter thickens their foliage and reduces the sheer
weight of dead branches, making a tree healthier. Unfortunately, we have all
fallen prey to the ‘cutting’ syndrome, a term that exists nowhere in the English
lexicon. You would notice that the vast majority of tress have no shape in their
crown and orientation and cover illumination from new LED streetlamps
making Delhi an even more unsafe city. May I suggest that GNCTD deploy
teams of contractors to trim all trees in the next two months so that street
lighting is not affected and Delhi’s green cover is leafier than about dead
branches?
W. Disposal of tree branches and garden waste: In the US, bark of branches is
mechanically extracted, flaked and recycled for sale to gardens that use it on
flower beds to retain water and prevent the snow from affecting the plants
directly. Likewise, garden waste is mechanically chopped into semi-granular

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form and kept in pits in each community or the garden of an independent house,
perhaps by law. GNCTD should mandate, by law, recycling of bark by
contractors and all nurseries, community parks and open spaces/land in excess
of 1000 sq. metres to have an appropriately sized pit and chopping technology
available on site.
X. Cleaning of municipal vats: Although most vats are cleaned by municipal
contractors once daily, yet the unsanitary surroundings and the stench are
overpowering. GNCTD may like to demolish these vat sheds and move them
underground with built-in PNG incinerators and over-ground ash extraction
evacuation pumps to load the ash weekly into disposal trucks.
Y. Disposal of domestic garbage: The massive rebuilding of Delhi’s residential
and office areas without much thought to the disposal of garbage ought to
occupy centre stage for remedial action. GNCTD ought to mandate by law that
all residential buildings taller than two floors must have a PNG-fuelled floor-
wise disposal chutes, incinerator and ash evacuation system. All building plans
pending with MCDs for sanction must include such disposal system, as it does
for stilt parking for vehicles. My proposals in sub-pars (X) and like emoticon
would reduce the consumption of lorry fuel, human resources, wage bills and
the pressure on overflowing sanitary landfills.
Needless to add, Mr. Kejriwal has proved himself singularly incapable on acting
even on a single suggestion.