JOIN USThe New Delhi Municipal Council has come up with a “theme based” cleanliness drive from December 1 to 15, in and around religious places, tourism, and heritage sites in the entire area under its jurisdiction, as a part of initiatives under ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission.
The civic agency’s jurisdiction had earlier qualified as Delhi’s smart city in the list of 98 smart cities.
“Special emphasis will be on sanitation, sweeping and cleanliness with removal of garbage, malba/debris, horticulture waste, unauthorised encroachments in and around religious places, tourism and heritage sites in entire New Delhi Municipal Council area,” said chairperson Naresh Kumar.
Under the drive, mechanical sweeping will be done around these places at night everyday and additional movable dustbins will be operational during the drive. Also, all street lights will be made properly functional.
With the dust being a major contributor to the city’s pollution, the introduction of mechanised sweepers, which mostly operate in night shifts, are being looked upon as a big step to reduce the level of dust in Delhi.
The NDMC area was the first where mechanical road sweepers were introduced and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that if the technology works out, the Delhi government may introduce in all the PWD roads which is a stretch of 1,260 km. Currently, the council has deployed four road sweepers for major and colony roads stretching across 10,920 km and two road sweepers for lanes and cross-colony roads of 3,900 km.
“To create awareness on cleanliness, informative and educational material will be distributed and nukkad nataks will also be organised. Community participation will be ensured by involving the tourists, pilgrims, visitors, caretaker of the sites, government and non-government organisations. Student rallies and cycle rallies will also be organised during the drive,” the chairman said.