We are trying our best to increase our revenue resources, says Sanjay Surjan
East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), the weakest among the three babies of the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi, is silently making efforts to provide better civic amenities in its area.
The corporation recently launched e-monitoring of garbage collection to ensure cleanliness and contain the menace of fake claims of contractors and sanitation workers which was the main reason behind the poor image of the corporation among residents of trans-Yamuna area, often referred as backyard of Delhi.
The chairman of the standing committee of EDMC Sanjay Surjan in an interaction with Millennium Post talks about achievements and his plans to meet the expectations of people. Excerpts:
How is the system of e-monitoring of waste collection working in EDMC area?
We have installed GPS system in our 232 auto-tippers deployed for garbage collection up to dhalao (municipal waste collection centre) and also in around 130 trucks which transport this waste to Ghazipur Sanitary Landfill Site (SLF) for final disposal.
These GPS devices are linked with our website through which the movement of these vehicles can be monitored online. Furthermore, the truck drivers have been provided hand-held devices equipped with camera and internet facility. They are being provided training to take photographs of the dhalao at the time of cleaning it. The spot pictures would automatically uploaded on our website.
Can general public monitor the system or only selected officers do it?
We want the website to be open for monitoring for every interested person but it is presently limited to some officers. I am providing the user ID and password to every councillor to monitor the system. The password and user id would be soon provided to every resident welfare association, market association and made public for monitoring of the system. I think public monitoring is the best way to improve the civic amenities.
What if anybody wants to complain?
We have already outsourced an agency to run a call centre in our head office. All the complaints on the call centre are registered and transferred to the concerned departments for action. An action taken report is also sent to the complainant. A deputy commissioner level officer reviews the records on a weekly basis.
What’s next for the EDMC area?
We will soon launch a G-auto service in which 50 autos would be launched on pilot project basis. These autos would be run by a Gujarat-based company on public-private partnership model. The company would provide us Rs 500 per auto as advertisement fee and would work like radio cabs but would be cheaper than that.
…But the financial condition of EDMC is not sound enough to carry out development works?
Yes, this is the major challenge before us. But we are trying our best to realise our revenue resources and bring more and more taxpayers under tax ambit. For instance, we have collected Rs 81.30 crore till August 2013 against Rs 92.54 crore collected in 2012-13 as property tax.
The number of honest taxpayers is just a handful in EDMC area as only 650 traders have trade licence. How will you bring more traders under tax ambit?
It’s a bare fact that just a small fraction of traders pay tax in EDMC area which is due to unauthorised colonies. We are planning to outsource an agency which will go from shop to shop to make on the spot trade licence.
The draft proposal is ready and tenders would be floated at the earliest. Similarly, the work on health licences and property tax collection would also be outsourced to separate agencies.
Why do you want to outsource every work?
We don’t have sufficient staff to carry out these works. All the earlier efforts to get it done by our staff could not deliver expected results. The recruitment of staff is carried out by Delhi Staff Selection Board (DSSB), which takes years so outsourcing in the only way. Once we have the data of the eligible taxpayers, we can carry out the collection of tax with our limited staff.
Parking is another major issue in the area?
We have increased the number of surface parking sites from 12 to 75 in our area but surface parking has its limitations as almost no vacant land is available in the area. We are planning some multi-level parking sites.
Waterlogging is another big issue in EDMC area?
The problem is due to multiple agencies doing sanitation work. The entire work of de-silting and sanitation should be given to EDMC and the agencies must pay to EDMC the cost of sanitation, garbage collection and de-silting.
The blame game will continue till the time there are multiple agencies in the city to do the same work.