No red tape allowed: LG gives deadline of 2 weeks to DDA to finalise restructuring plan

New Delhi: Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today gave a deadline of two weeks to Delhi Development Authority tofinalise a restructuring plan to bring transparency, efficiency and accountability in the organisation.

The direction came amid mounting criticism against DDA for alleged corruption, bureaucratic red tape and delay in implementation of various important projects.

At a review meeting, Jung directed top DDA officials to finalise the restructuring plan in the next two weeks and place it before him for final orders. The Lt Governor, who is administrative head of DDA, asked the agency to computerise all its works and services by September next year. The computerisation project will commence in November.

The restructuring of DDA will be carried out to enhance its productivity and will be governed by the principles of responsibility, accountability, effective decision making, transparency and supervision, officials said.

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DDA officials said broad contours of the restructuring plan have already been prepared and these will be fine tuned in the next two weeks. The DDA is the land owning agency in the city and has been mandated to provide housing for varioussegments of the population. DDA’s permission is required for almost all major infrastructure projects.

The meeting also examined a report by the National Productivity Council which was tasked in April to suggest measures to improve functioning of the DDA.

In the report, the National Productivity Council recommended rationalisation of the “vertical command structure” in the DDA and said certain non-critical and non-technical operation should be outsourced.

The suggestions include mergers of certain departments with overlapping areas of work and creation of new positions/functions such as those involving land development and management of housing schemes.

The report recommended further strengthening DDA’s expertise on critical and technical areas such as planning andarchitecture.

The National Productivity Council, in its report also recommended computerisation of all processes in all departments of DDA, saying IT networking will improving coordination and information flow. It also suggested an effective file management system as well as data mining facility for speedy retrieval of information.

DDA officials said a GIS-based Project Monitoring System will be set up for real time monitoring of engineering works,maintenance of parks etc in the city. They said a database about all existing properties will also be created through which people will be able to know about details of their properties.

DDA will also enhance skill of its manpower and will equip them with latest technology. The officials said DDA’s headquarters in Vikas Minar and Vikas Sadan will be overhauled and equipped with latest office equipment and workstations.

The Lt Governor separately reviewed the detailed plan to computerise all operations within DDA. The officials said creating an interactive website for DDA will be a priority area as the agency will focus on providing various online services to the citizens such as payment and tracking of complaints.

Four locations – DDA offices in Vikas Sadan, Vikas Minar in INA market, Dwarka and Rohini have been identified fordelivery of core services.

PTI