Danish Envoy’s video brings attention to trash-ridden lane

NEW DELHI: Danish Ambassador to India Freddy Svane on Wednesday took to social media to highlight a trash-ridden “service lane” near the Embassy of Denmark here and appealed to authorities to take necessary action.

The envoy posted a video on ‘X’ in the afternoon with a caption: “Lovely and green New Delhi. Many words but no action. Saddened by this @DenmarkinIndia @CMODelhi @LtGovDelhi”.

In the video, Svane, standing in the middle of the lane, points to the trash and construction debris strewn along both sides of it.

“Welcome to great, green and trashy New Delhi,” he said in the video.

The envoy also gestured towards the Danish and Greek embassy buildings on either side of the lane.

“Here we have the Danish embassy and we have the Greek embassy over there. This should be a service

lane, but you see it’s full of trash, and people are just dumping whatever they like... So, I hope somebody will listen to this and take action. No more nice words, just action, my friends,” he added.

A senior official of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) when asked about the video, said, “It was cleaned after the matter came to light. We will also ensure that such a civic situation does not arise again.”

Danish Embassy is located in Chanakyapuri, home to the country’s main diplomatic enclave in the national capital. The civic area in the enclave falls under the NDMC.

Chanakyapuri overall is one of the cleanest areas in New Delhi.

As the video gained traction on ‘X’, the local body later put out an official statement and said, “The NDMC welcomes feedback from any stakeholder for improving its services. In this regard, the social media message from H. E. Freddy Svane, Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy was promptly acted upon, which was later acknowledged by the ambassador himself to the media.”

The Danish ambassador, later interacting separately with some mediapersons, thanked the NDMC and the civic workers who were part of the team that cleaned up the plot.