Established in 1863, municipal corporation likely to announce June 1 as Municipal Day

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) held its first meeting on June 1, 1863, after the civic body was formally constituted in February that year.

- Paras Singh

Senior municipal officials said the Heritage Cell of the civic body will table a proposal this month in the House to mark June 1 every year as "Municipal Day" or "Nagar Nigam Diwas" to celebrate the beginning of formal civic governance in the national capital.

A senior official aware of the matter said the municipality in Delhi came into being in February 1863. "We have searched the records available in old municipal files, municipal library and archives. It has been found that the Delhi municipality came into being in February 1863, and a committee which acted like a constituent committee was set up to frame by-laws to run the city in April 1863. The first meeting of the general committee was held with the commissioner in the chair on June 1,1863. We have proposed to celebrate the day of the first meeting as Municipal Day," he added.

In 1863, the city area under the municipality was confined to two square miles with 121,000 inhabitants. Now, it has grown more than 1,400 sq km with an estimated population of more than 20 million, the official said.