The Hindu    09.09.2014  

South Delhi councillors to get Rs.2-5 lakh for improving cleanliness in their wards

Councillors in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation
will be getting an additional Rs.2-5 lakh each to improve cleanliness in
their wards, Leader of the House Subhash Arya said on Monday.

“The
councillors can coordinate with the Zonal Deputy Commissioner and the
executive engineer of maintenance to get cleanliness in their wards up
to the mark,” said Mr. Arya.

At a special meeting on
Monday to discuss sanitation, the House decided to allot funds for each
ward so cleanliness can be strengthened. Councillors of both the
ruling-BJP and the Opposition Congress complained about the lack of
sanitation workers and infrastructure like garbage trucks and
auto-tippers.

Congress councillors Farhad Suri and Virender Kasana had on Sunday inspected garbage collection points (
dhalaos
) and public toilets across South Delhi. They found
dhalaos
overflowing with garbage, and some had even become home to squatters and ragpickers.

Mr.
Suri, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the SDMC, said there was
an urgent need to overhaul the corporation’s policy on public toilets.
“The contractors are not maintaining toilets and are just making money
from advertising on the complexes. The Corporation should not outsource
obligatory duties like maintaining hygiene,” said Mr. Suri.

Mr.
Kasana, the Chittaranjan Park councillor, said that the poor level of
cleanliness was because the issues raised in Wards Committees were not
being addressed. He demanded that an Additional Commissioner attend the
Wards Committee meetings so local issues get resolved.

“The situation is so bad that 90 per cent of our public toilets are not connected to water pipes and sewers. And some
dhalaos
have been illegally sublet,” said Mr. Kasana.

Meanwhile,
the North Delhi Municipal Corporation also held a meeting of the House
to discuss sanitation on Monday. However, due to chaotic exchanges
between the BJP and the Congress, the meeting was adjourned. The North
Corporation will now convene on September 15 to discuss cleanliness.