Municipal corporation to charge penalty for cleaning vacant plots, flats

abhinav@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi

If your house or plot is closed for years and there is garbage accumulated on the compound, get it cleaned or face action.

The houses or sites in east Delhi that are lying unused or abandoned for years and have dirt or water accumulated on the campus will be cleaned by the corporation and the cost incurred will be added to the property tax of the owners.

After East Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (EDMC) councillors raised the issue in the standing committee meeting that several plots, houses or disputed properties have mosquitoes breeding. Committee chairman Jitendra Chaudhary said he has issued instructions to the sanitation inspectors to conduct a survey of such houses so that action could be taken against the owners.

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“Once the survey identifies such properties, we will first put a notice on the wall of the property asking the owner to get his house cleaned,” said Chaudhary.

“If the person does not respond in a week’s time, the civic body’s sanitation workers will clean the area and the cost might be added to the property tax,” he said.

If the property was locked and sanitation inspectors could not get contact details of the owner, legal options will be explored if the lock could be broken or not, the committee chairman said.

The corporation is yet to fix the fine amount to be levied of defaulters.

In order to check mosquito breeding, the civic body also decided to clean big garbage stations two times a week. The corporation has identified 89 such dumpyards.

No fogging without consent

The east Delhi municipal body has ordered residents and other public groups to take permission before conducting fogging in their areas.

Standing committee chairman Jitendra Chaudhary issued the order after municipal councillors expressed concern over some Residents’ Welfare Organisations (RWAs) and political activists conducting fogging without permission from the civic body.

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Councillor Manoj Tyagi said, “The people don’t know the right mix of pesticide and diesel. If not mixed in the right proportion, it could be dangerous for health.”

The civic body uses cyphenothrin (an insecticide) along with diesel. “The correct proportion is to mix 1 litre diesel with 7 ml cyphenothrin. If the right proportion is not followed, it is hazardous to health,” a municipal doctor said.