The Hindu         04.12.2014  

Civic bodies to place 8,000 new trash cans

One of the casualties of the 2008 serial blasts in the
Capital — dustbins — will be making a comeback across city streets,
markets and other busy spots.

The three municipal
corporations of Delhi will be putting in place 8,000 new 100-litre bins
across the city. Tenders for procuring the bins have been floated by the
civic bodies and within a month the first batch will be installed.

The
erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi had stopped installing bins
after the blasts, some of which had been set off by bombs placed in
dustbins. The police had raised security concerns while objecting to
bins in crowded places.

But, after the Centre
launched the Swachh Bharat initiative on October 2, there seems to have
been a change in the policy. According to senior municipal officials,
the Delhi Police have agreed to dustbins being placed, with the caveat
that bins in densely crowded areas should be monitored.

North
Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner Pravin Kumar Gupta said the
police had asked the civic bodies to be “careful”, but had “not said no”
to new bins.

“We haven’t put up bins for many years
now due to objections from the police. But, now we are going ahead with
procuring 100-litre stainless steel bins,” said Mr. Gupta.

The
North Corporation invited bids for 2,000 stainless steel bins on
November 17. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation will be procuring
4,000 bins and 2,000 will be bought by the East Delhi Municipal
Corporation, said the commissioner of the two bodies, Manish Gupta.

He
said: “We will start putting up the first bunch of these bins in one
month. We are working with market associations to devise a system for
the clearing and maintenance of the bins.”