As Delhi govt, MCDs end tug-of-war, foul stench over Capital set to lift

The Delhi government and civic bodies have finally settled their long fight regarding their respective responsibilities of cleaning the city. As per a settlement reached after the intervention of the Union Ministry for Urban Development (UD), the former will clean all debris while the civic bodies will be responsible for garbage disposal. In case of dispute both will follow the final decision of UD.

“It has been decided that the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Delhi government will clean all the debris in the entire city of Delhi while MCDs, NDMC and the Delhi Cantonment Board will clear the garbage in their respective territorial jurisdictions,” said Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister in a joint press conference with the mayors of North, South and East MCDs. Kejriwal along with his deputy and three mayors also launched a mobile app through which citizens can upload pictures of garbage or debris lying anywhere in the city. “A Swachh drive will be launched in the city by Union Minister of UD( Ministry of Urban Development)  V Naidu on November 22 and will go on till November 30. We will work in a coordinated manner to clean the city and try to continue the scheme even after the drive,” he added. The app can be downloaded by giving a miss call on the number 7666400400 which is GPS enabled and will give the exact location of the site through latitude and longitude.

“We will take full precautions in deciding whether the material is ‘debris’ or ‘garbage’ and forward the complaint to the concerned agencies,” said Sandeep Mishra, Under Secretary with UD. “In case of dispute, the agencies will accept the final decision of UD and execute the directions of the ministry as their duty to clean the site,” he added. 

The pictures uploaded on the app will be monitored and segregated in a control room set in the Ministry of UD from where they would be forwarded to the concerned agencies for action. 

“We are fully committed to coordinate with Delhi government to realise the vision Swachh Bharat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The three MCDs regularly pick up 8,000 MT of garbage from the city but there is always scope for improvement,” said Subhash Arya, mayor of South MCD flanked by Ravinder Gupta mayor of North MCD and Harshdeep Malhotra mayor of East MCD.