'Mayors should be given more powers'

State governments should give more powers to mayors in order to improve the efficiency of major cities, said Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman, Infosys Technologies Limited.

In his address at Pan IIT 2008 recenlty here, he said the cities cannot be strong unless the ruling parties give more powers to mayors. This is a fundamental political problem, he added.

“If mayors have adequate power, it will increase the efficiency of the cities, which in turn will grow better and lead to the betterment of the economy. However, mayors will have access to more land under their control, which political top brass do not want,” he said.

While the New York mayor Rudy Guiliani held fort and oversaw operations after the 9/11 attack, the Mumbai mayor was nowhere to be seen after last month’s terror attacks, the co-chairman added.