Delhi mayor pulls up MCD commissioner over lapses in door-to-door garbage collection

NEW DELHI: Taking note of complaints about lapses in door-to-door garbage collection across the city, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Tuesday wrote to Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Commissioner Ashwani Kumar, seeking a response within three days. In her letter on Tuesday, Mayor Oberoi said large piles of garbage are collected across localities of Delhi and remain unattended for several days, creating unhygienic conditions.
She also raised concern that the garbage dumps could become a source of several diseases, such as dengue.
"I have been receiving several complaints from councillors across all MCD wards that waste collection agencies are failing to carry out daily door-to-door collection from their wards. This is leading to large piles of garbage being collected across localities of Delhi, which too are lying unattended for several days. Not only is this creating unhygienic conditions across different wards of Delhi, it could also become a source for propagation of several diseases, such as dengue," the letter read.
Oberoi further stated that to assess the ground reality, she inspected several areas in the past few weeks and found garbage piles accumulated at various locations, causing dissatisfaction among the residents.
"I visited several wards of Delhi in past few weeks viz, Lado Sarai, Madipur, Vikaspuri, Patel Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri, Mahaveer Enclave, Mohan Garden and Bindapur. In several areas of these wards, I found that there is no door-to-door collection happening at all and piles of garbage had accumulated at several points," the mayor's letter read.
"I interacted with several residents, too, who expressed their dissatisfaction with the task of waste collection and solid waste management by these agencies," she said.
Condemning the situation as a "grave dereliction of duty" by the waste collection agencies, Oberoi said it was also a failure on the part of the MCD officials responsible for monitoring them.
The mayor sought the commissioner's response on the reasons behind the agencies' failure to perform. Additionally, she asked for information on the measures the MCD will take to ensure a prompt resolution to the problem.
She directed Kumar to submit his response on the matter by 5 pm on Thursday, September 26.