SDMC records at odds with ground reality
24 July 2012 2:29 AM GMT
The residents welfare associations and councillors in South Delhi have given the thumbs down to South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) claim of having completed de-silting of 124 per cent of the drains in the areas under their jurisdiction, which is more than the target that they had set out to achieve. The corporation has claimed that it has removed 33,639 Metric Tonnes of silt from the drains against their initial target of 27,026 Metric Tonnes.
The corporation has four zones under its jurisdiction and the work of de-silting as per corporation records has been more than hundred per cent completed in all the zones - Najafgarh Zone (103.53 per cent), Central Zone (124.6 per cent), South Zone (134 per cent) and West Zone (121 per cent). There are 395 nallas of over four feet depth and width in the SDMC area spread over 104 wards and include some of the poshest areas in Delhi.
‘I don’t know how they calculate their percentage and carry out the work but the fact is that south Delhi could not handle a rainfall of just 25 minutes on 11 July and several places were water logged. Traffic movement was brought down to a crawl’ said Wing Commander J S Chadda, president of the South Extension-I RWA. The corporation also claims of having over two dozen water pumps to pump out water from water logged areas. ‘Not even a single nalla has been completely de-silted in our area. They just remove silt from any one point of the nallas to show in their records that they have been cleaned. All our complaints fall on deaf ears. Just half-an-hour’s rain ensured that the area was completely water logged for two days. Once the monsoon comes in full force the roads will become nallas and the water will come into our houses,’ said Bansi Lal, president of RWA in Saket. The representatives of several other RWAs in the city like Sangam Vihar, Ambedkar Nagar and Deoli had similar stories to share.
Even the Chairman of the Standing Committee (SDMC) Rajesh Gehlot is not satisfied with the work of the sanitation workers and official in his own constituency.
‘I had to order the suspension of four employees of the sanitation department including two assistant sanitation inspectors to make them fall in line,’ said Gehlot who became angry when on a surprise visit on 3 July to his constituency, Matiala, he found half the sanitation workers to be absent. Only 17 of the 70 sanitation workers were found to be at work, during his visit to Matiala and Kakrola wards in the Najafgarh zone.
‘We are tired of the attitude of the sanitation workers in the area. They hardly do any work. If the complaints become persistent, they complaint of not having proper instruments to remove the silt from the nallas,’ said Timsi Kasana, a councillor from ward no 204 and a member in the standing committee. The councillors from rural areas like Najafgarh and West Zone say they are completely completely ignorant of any de-silting and sanitation works having been carried out in their constituencies.
The corporation has four zones under its jurisdiction and the work of de-silting as per corporation records has been more than hundred per cent completed in all the zones - Najafgarh Zone (103.53 per cent), Central Zone (124.6 per cent), South Zone (134 per cent) and West Zone (121 per cent). There are 395 nallas of over four feet depth and width in the SDMC area spread over 104 wards and include some of the poshest areas in Delhi.
‘I don’t know how they calculate their percentage and carry out the work but the fact is that south Delhi could not handle a rainfall of just 25 minutes on 11 July and several places were water logged. Traffic movement was brought down to a crawl’ said Wing Commander J S Chadda, president of the South Extension-I RWA. The corporation also claims of having over two dozen water pumps to pump out water from water logged areas. ‘Not even a single nalla has been completely de-silted in our area. They just remove silt from any one point of the nallas to show in their records that they have been cleaned. All our complaints fall on deaf ears. Just half-an-hour’s rain ensured that the area was completely water logged for two days. Once the monsoon comes in full force the roads will become nallas and the water will come into our houses,’ said Bansi Lal, president of RWA in Saket. The representatives of several other RWAs in the city like Sangam Vihar, Ambedkar Nagar and Deoli had similar stories to share.
Even the Chairman of the Standing Committee (SDMC) Rajesh Gehlot is not satisfied with the work of the sanitation workers and official in his own constituency.
‘I had to order the suspension of four employees of the sanitation department including two assistant sanitation inspectors to make them fall in line,’ said Gehlot who became angry when on a surprise visit on 3 July to his constituency, Matiala, he found half the sanitation workers to be absent. Only 17 of the 70 sanitation workers were found to be at work, during his visit to Matiala and Kakrola wards in the Najafgarh zone.
‘We are tired of the attitude of the sanitation workers in the area. They hardly do any work. If the complaints become persistent, they complaint of not having proper instruments to remove the silt from the nallas,’ said Timsi Kasana, a councillor from ward no 204 and a member in the standing committee. The councillors from rural areas like Najafgarh and West Zone say they are completely completely ignorant of any de-silting and sanitation works having been carried out in their constituencies.
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