New Delhi: The Environment Committee of the Delhi Legislative Assembly summoned the Commissioners of the three MCDs and expressed serious concerns over the rising levels of dust and air pollution due to manual sweeping across the city.
All three MCD commissioners have been asked to file a report, on the implementation of National Green Tribunal (NGT) orders and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) recommendations, use of MRS machines, and steps taken to eliminate manual sweeping of roads.
The letter to the three MCD commissioners stated, "The use of Mechanical Road Sweeping Machines (MRS) machines has become imperative since it helps in reducing the SPM load (fine road dust particles) by vacuum suction and sprinkling water to entrap dust load suspension."
"As per reports by leading news agencies, while MRS operates on around 1,300km of road surfaces every day, over 20,000 kms of smaller roads continue to be swept manually," the letter mentioned.
Chairperson of the house Atishi questioned the municipal corporations of Delhi as to why they had not been using mechanical sweeping across their jurisdictions.
She has asked the civic bodies to submit a complete report on the use of MRS machines in the city and any other recent steps taken by it to eliminate manual sweeping. The Environment Committee has sought clarifications from MCD commissioners on the non-adoption of mechanical sweeping despite orders from the NGT.
Kalkaji MLA Atishi said, "The Environment Committee has received several complaints from different parts of the city regarding rising levels of dust and ensuing air pollution caused by the manual sweeping of roads being carried out by the respective corporations.
The panel had asked three MCD commissioners to submit detailed steps taken by the MCDs to stop dust pollution in Delhi."
"MCD is responsible for rising dust levels in Delhi. A TERI report shows that MCD is not using the mechanical sweeping machines as mandated by the National Green Tribunal," she charged.