GUWAHATI, July 28 - Delay in conducting the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) election has raised concern among political parties as well as the common people of the city.
It is noteworthy that the GMC, the main agency of the State government responsible for maintaining the civic facilities in the city, is running without an elected body for the last one year. The tenure of the last elected body of the GMC led by Mrigen Sarania ended on July 31 last year.
Some political leaders, even from the ruling BJP, alleged that the lack of an elected body in the GMC has posed challenges before the city vis-a-vis development.
�The main duty of an elected councillor is to carry the public issues to the higher officials of the GMC. So, absence of the elected representatives has created a huge gap between the public and the authorities concerned,� said a former councillor of the GMC. He asserted that due to lack of an elected body many developmental projects of the GMC are pending for the last one year. Even flow of funds from the government has been disrupted.
�In many cases, delay in any developmental projects is caused due to conflicts between the engineers and contractors. Under such a situation the councillor of a specific area invariably plays an important role in solving the differences. But today, due to absence of an elected body, the GMC is unable to complete any developmental project,� he added.
Expressing his opinion on the issue, Kushal Sarmah, president of Guwahati City District Congress Committee said, �The State election department should take immediate steps to conduct the GMC election. It is an urgent need for Guwahati. A period of one year without an elected body is a serious loss for the GMC.�
Sarmah added that the elected body is much needed to address ground level issues of the city, as it is not possible for the MLA concerned to cover all people and listen to all their problems. Again, absence of an elected body also opens up the door for the officials of the GMC to work unilaterally without considering the public interest.
Secretary of CPI(M) Assam State Committee Deben Bhattacharya said, �The election is long overdue. The State government should take immediate steps in this matter. But I am not sure whether the State government is interested in conducting the election or not, because the BJP is not committed to grassroots democracy.�
Meanwhile, sources in the State election department informed that the main reason behind the delay in conducting the GMC election is the crisis of manpower as a huge section of government employees are now engaged in the NRC updating work. The GMC election may be held during September-October, an official added.
