New Delhi: The unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) formally came into existence on Sunday with IAS officers Ashwani Kumar assuming the charge as the new civic body's special officer while Gyanesh Bharti assumed charge of commissioner, reported news agency PTI.
The three civic bodies — North, South, and East Municipal corporations — were trifurcated in 2012 during Sheila Dikhsit’s tenure as the Chief Minister, but the three civic bodies have now been again unified as one.
According to municipal officials, Kumar will be the top authority handling the civic affairs till a new House is elected, reported the news agency.
Kumar said that among his top priorities will be to provide the best of civic amenities to the public and improvement of sanitation services.
"Sanitation is a basic and obligatory function of any civic body and its impact is always clearly visible on ground. So, my priority will be to further improve sanitation services in the city," Kumar told the news agency.
A 1992-batch IAS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, Kumar served as the chief secretary of Puducherry. He was recently transferred to the national capital by the central government and was awaiting posting.
He assumed the charge of the special officer at the Civic Centre, the MCD headquarters on Sunday.
He had also worked as the principal secretary of the Public Works Department in the Delhi government in 2017.
While Bharti is a 1998-batch IAS officer also of the AGMUT cadre and had served as the commissioner of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation prior to this assignment, and he was the senior-most among Delhi's erstwhile three municipal commissioners.
"My priority will be to provide the best municipal services delivered to the people of Delhi in a transparent manner," Bharti said.
The three civic bodies have been merged into one MCD through the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022.