Poor progress of development and lack of governance are common problems affecting most Indian cities and these can only be addressed by empowering the city governments, instead of leaving all decision-making powers with the state government, experts said in Gurgaon on Sunday.

This idea – to transfer all decision-making power related to the administration of a city from the state governments to the local bodies by further empowering the mayors and councillors – was deliberated during a roundtable workshop organised by Gurgaon First, a citizen’s forum, in the city, on Sunday.

The workshop on ‘Empowering local bodies for better governance’ drew participation of various stakeholders – administration officials, urban development experts, environmentalists and residents – who discussed issues plaguing governance of the city.

According to the participants, the biggest problem facing Gurgaon right now is the presence of multiple authorities, leading to duplicity of work and confusion. While the municipal corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) is responsible for administrative work, a lot of functions and development work are undertaken by the Haryana urban development authority (HUDA), thus leading to confusion.

“HUDA and MCG, the two authorities that manage the city, have overlapping roles and confusing jurisdiction. Neither has enough power to decide on key issues involving the city,” said Shubhra Puri, founder of Gurgaon First.

Also during the workshop, a free pickup hotline service for the residents of Gurgaon to ensure environmentally sound recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) was launched by global asset recovery and recycling company Dataserv APAC. Residents can call the toll free number (18002082828) and avail free pick-up of electronic waste from their doorsteps which will then be recycled by the company in a manner that minimises the chances of environmental degradation.

“Once the request comes in from a resident or a corporate house, we will ensure pick-up of the e-waste. This will then be sent to our recycling unit in Sohna where the equipment will be checked for asset recovery, complete recycling, and the like,” said Amit Sardana, managing director of the company. He further said that in a city like Gurgaon with a large urban population and corporate houses mushrooming at a rapid pace, e-waste management is absolutely critical.

Besides the complex administrative challenges, other hurdles that emerged from the discussions were lack of decision-making power of the local authorities and loopholes in the city’s master-plan-2031.

Addressing the gathering, MCG councillor Nisha Singh said it was unfair to put the entire onus of poor governance on the civic authorities, as they were in effect a “powerless” body. “We have very limited powers to undertake development activities in the city. For instance, any project requiring funds over Rs 1 crore can only be sanctioned by the state government,” Singh said.

She pointed out that seeking approval for projects was a major hiccup as all files had to pass through 23 desks, which inevitably leads to delays.

Echoing the sentiment, director of School of Planning and Architecture Chetan Vaidya said that the problems would persist till power was not transferred from the hands of those sitting miles away in state capitals to those working on the grassroots level, which is the municipal authority. Comparing the situation in some other cities such as Surat, Ahmedabad and Indore, Vaidya said, “The municipal authorities in these cities are well-empowered and work in close coordination with the citizens. (But) in cities like Gurgaon, this link is missing and capacity building of these local bodies is urgently required to bring in significant changes.”

Another issue raised was that of rotation in which mayors did not have the option of getting re-elected, hence providing them no incentive to perform and get work done.

“The city is paying a heavy price for the current mess,” Gurgaon First’s Puri said. “The HUDA administrator is shunting between Chandigarh and Gurgaon at least three times a month, if not more, to either get sanctions, approvals or fight court cases. MCG, the so-called apex body of the city, has very little land and control, rendering it helpless in discharging most civic responsibilities.

“The city’s governance has gone for a toss and for the situation to improve it is important that the mayor and his 34 councillors are given more of both – power and accountability.”