Dismay and anger swept through the city. But as residents demanded accountability, the elected government, civic body and administration enmeshed themselves in a bitter back-and-forth.
Who was to blame? Who would be held to account? The city sought answers, but the unrelenting finger-pointing meant none was at offer. Delhi was locked between the divergent government, municipality, lieutenant governor and bureaucracy, as it has been for much of the past five years.
The assembly election results declared on Saturday held out hope that this quagmire could be remedied.
With both arms of government — the elected administration and the lieutenant governor — now under one party, ordinary citizens felt that acrimony may be replaced by discussion, blame game by dialogue, and that the city’s government may now speak in one voice on the issues hobbling the Capital.
“Policies and projects have, over the past few years, come to a near stop because of the government and LG bickering. We have been the victims of this back-and-forth,” said Namita Relan, an engineer who lives in Karol Bagh.
“I just hope authorities get on the same page and work for the city,” she said.
What ails Delhi governance?A disconnected administration has hobbled governance in the national capital for years now.
The elected government theoretically controls all services in the state except three – police, land, and public order. However, according to a 2023 ordinance (which was later passed into law), the Delhi government has no powers to appoint bureaucrats, who are in turn picked by the centrally appointed lieutenant governor (LG). The LG, in turn, reports to the Union home ministry, and VK Saxena, the occupant of the office since 2022, has consistently been at odds with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since he took charge. The mess has created consistent logjams between the government and bureaucracy – with policies and programmes falling prey.
Things reached a point where one side was busy blocking, and the other was busy blaming without even trying to put its point across.
At the same time, even as the AAP won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections in December 2022, its slim majority in the House dwindled away as members switched parties. Further, the party failed to gain footholds in key panels that control MCD’s purse strings, severely limiting its ability to spend money, amid opposition from the BJP.
Atul Goyal, president of United Residents Joint Action (URJA), a consortium of resident welfare associations, said a “double-engine” government could, in theory, help Delhi with swifter approvals.
“Whether from the Centre or the LG, projects should be approved and executed faster. With AAP still in the MCD, a tussle related to waste management may continue, but people are hopeful and expect the new government to work on water and public transport in particular. Issues like choked sewer lines and dirty drinking water are important. So is cleaning the Yamuna,” he said.
And as the arms of the government locked horns, Delhi suffered.
Where do we go from here?
Pollution: The air quality index (AQI) in the country’s most polluted city spiralled to new records in 2024 as noxious winds from simmering paddy fields in Punjab and Haryana swept into the city, exacerbated by local emissions from vehicles and burnt trash.
The BJP-run Centre targeted the AAP government in Delhi for not cooperating to clean up the air pollution. And the AAP, which first blamed only Punjab, started blaming all other neighbouring states but Punjab once it formed the government there.
With a “double-engine government” (to lift an oft-used BJP moniker), Delhi can hope for a sharper influx of electric public transit and more seamless channels of communication between Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, as well as the Union environment ministry.
Infra: A bruising monsoon in 2024 pushed the city’s creaking infrastructure to its limits, as more than 50 people died in waterlogged streets or of electrocutions. But agencies were at pains to shift blame.
With fewer hurdles likely and the BJP likely to control the agencies involved in flood control and rain management – MCD and the Public Works Department (PWD) – residents will hope that the city’s sewage network and drains are de-silted seamlessly, instead of a blame game between the two.
Water: Water shortages dried out taps every few days in a scorching summer, as Delhi’s treatment plants choked on sewage and pollutants from the Yamuna.
The AAP government blamed the BJP government in Haryana for releasing “poisoned water” into the Yamuna — a charge its own government departments refuted. But with the same party in charge in Haryana, Delhi and even Uttar Pradesh, there are fewer excuses for the government to flush out the Yamuna’s pollutants and bolster the city’s middling water supply.
Roads: Roads remained unpaved as the government, MCD, Public Works Department (PWD) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) traded barbs over the ownership and control of the Capital’s pock-marked streets.
Nearly every BJP leader during the campaign stressed on the poor condition of Delhi’s streets and cited the party’s track record at building vast stretches of sprawling highway. Save MCD, agencies controlled by the same party will now be in charge of the paving and upkeep of Delhi’s streets. Synergy, residents hope, will bring fewer bumpy rides.
Health care: Poor people bore the brunt of hobbled health care as a battle between the LG and Delhi government downed the shutters on a rash of Mohalla Clinics and deprived others of free medicines, diagnostic tests and staff.
The BJP has promised to implement its flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance programme in the city in its first cabinet meeting after taking charge. The party has also touted its success with its Jan Aushadhi centres for subsidised medicines. The city’s poorer classes cited the steady decline of Mohalla Clinics as one of their key causes for disillusionment, and the BJP will be held to account on its promises of reviving the city’s health infrastructure though its own schemes.
(With inputs from Jasjeev Gandhiok)
