Seven-day ‘Garbage-Free Delhi’ campaign to help clean up city

Delhi’s three municipal corporations — north, east and south — will launch a week-long intensive sanitation campaign “Garbage Free Delhi” from Tuesday, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to make cities garbage-free.

Under the campaign, the civic bodies will press into service 100 more garbage compactors to reduce the number of dhalaos (local garbage collection sites) across the city. Mayors of the three municipalities said that nearly 500 places have been identified where garbage is accumulated and eventually spills on to the roads. These places will be cleared on a priority. In the cleanliness campaign, the focus will also be on segregation of waste at source in market areas, which is negligible in the city.

Addressing a joint press conference, Jai Prakash, mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said that in the special drive, teams of political executives and municipal officials will conduct inspections in different areas under their jurisdiction to check if sanitation work is being carried out properly and garbage is being lifted from the colonies and dhalaos. “We will also spread awareness among masses through pamphlets and stickers about the importance of waste segregation at source and also appeal the public not to litter on roads and throw garbage in drains. Additional dustbins will be installed in markets across Delhi with the help of market associations,” he said.

Prakash further said that a meeting will be conducted with the market associations and they would be requested to start waste segregation at source and for this, they would be given separate dustbins for dry and wet waste.

According to municipal estimates, Delhi produces over 10,817 metric tonnes of garbage daily. Most of this waste makes its way to the three landfill sites — Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla. The municipal officials said that nearly 330 dhalaos have been eliminated across the city with the help of over 450 garbage compactor machines. With a workforce of over 72,000 sanitation employees, the three civic bodies are majorly responsible for maintaining cleanliness in the city.

Anamika Mithilesh, mayor South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said that the exercise would continue till August 18 and every councillor and civic officials will remain on the field to ensure proper execution of the plan. She said that nearly 100 more garbage compactor machines will be deployed in different areas in the three corporations to reduce the number of local garbage dumping points.

Nirmal Jain, mayor East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), said that the main aim of the campaign is to make the city roads and drains free of garbage. “Nearly 500 points have been identified across the city where garbage is dumped and then later spills on roads. In the drive, we will ensure that no garbage remains at dhalaos and waste is not littered on roads and in drains. Nine compost plants of one-tonne capacity each have been installed in east corporation areas so that less waste reaches the landfill,”