Ranchi, Sept. 9: Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) bosses, who had promised the heaven and more to their electorate before Ranchi Municipal polls, are frustrated now after failing to deliver a fraction of what they had promised.

Result: ward commissioners are blaming the civic body staff whose inertia, they say, make any sort of change “next to impossible”.

“During the polls I had promised ward residents that I would ensure better drainage in the area. Despite promises drains continue to remain open and as bad as before,” said Sajda Khatun, the Hindpiri ward commissioner. A PhD degree-holder in Urdu literature from Ranchi University, Sajda confesses that she feels “disappointed” by her failure. Her feelings are echoed by officials who wish to deliver, but feel tied down by the civic body.

“I have not been able to deliver a fraction of what I had promised to my people during the elections,” said Arvind Singh Deol, a ward commissioner and an MBA graduate from Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur.

Though Deol had dreamt to change the face of the city with his ideas, today he finds no takers for his ideas in the civic body and bureaucracy.

“Authorities and staff in the RMC or in the bureaucracy are not ready for any sort of change. They do not wish to hear new ideas or execute them,” he rues.

The “silent resistance” that is being offered by the civic body or officials has dimmed the euphoria among ward commissioners.

This year, the civic body polls were held after a gap of 18 years in March. The mayor, deputy mayor and the ward commissioners took their oath of offices on April 12.

Officials like Deol stress that “ideas have been collapsing” as “simple decisions” are taking too much time to see the light of the day. Post-polls the RMC general body has met four times. Though the meetings were fruitful, ideas discussed in them have not been executed even after six months.

“We had decided to lower the charge of water connections from Rs 2,350 to 1,500, as the earlier fee was too high. That decision has not been implemented after months,” said Mrinal Guha, a ward commissioner, who was also a ward commissioner in the previous body, 18 years ago.

Commissioners pointed out that RMC higher authorities often attributed work delay to a lack of fund and added that the constant negative attitude was lowering their interest to come up with new ideas.

“I am not satisfied with the progress of RMC works in the past six months, but I am hopeful,” said Ajay Nath Shahdeo, the RMC deputy mayor. He said a system of doing business is yet to be evolved in the body. “Ranchi is of the same size as Nasik, but our municipal corporation finds itself far behind,” said Shahdeo.