NEW DELHI: Unhappy with the pace of the disposal of legacy waste at Ghazipur landfill, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday directed Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to engage two more private companies to ensure the deadline to flatten the “mountain of garbage” is met.
During his visit to the landfill, Kejriwal noticed that only 5.3 lakh metric tonnes of the waste could be disposed of against the target of 15 lakh MT. “This is a joint venture of three companies and they have not been on the same page since the beginning of the work. We are hiring two more agencies parallel to the existing ones to speed up the progress,” he said.
The chief minister, however, added that MCD would need the approval of Standing Committee to give such a huge project to a private company. Since the issue of voting rights to aldermen is in the Supreme Court, Standing Committee is yet to be formed. Once the court delivers its judgement, Standing Committee will be constituted and two private agencies will be hired to fast-track the work, he said. “Till that time, we will also decide whether to persist with the existing three agencies that are hostile towards each other and hinder the progress,” he added.
In the past few days, Kejriwal also visited Bhalswa and Okhla landfills to assess the progress there. Though the pace at Bhalswa is faster than the set target, approximately 65-70 lakh tonnes of waste is still left and we need an additional agency, he said, adding that the work is slower at Okhla and it, too, needs another agency.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the AAP leaders, including the mayor, had no administrative experience, that’s why they had failed to monitor the work and the progress was slow.
“It is shocking to see the CM pleading that it cannot hire a new agency as MCD’s Standing Committee is not in place. It is AAP’s political fear that is not allowing the formation of the committee. To speed up development work, AAP should allow its formation by giving voting rights to aldermen,” Kapoor said.
During his visit to the landfill, Kejriwal noticed that only 5.3 lakh metric tonnes of the waste could be disposed of against the target of 15 lakh MT. “This is a joint venture of three companies and they have not been on the same page since the beginning of the work. We are hiring two more agencies parallel to the existing ones to speed up the progress,” he said.
The chief minister, however, added that MCD would need the approval of Standing Committee to give such a huge project to a private company. Since the issue of voting rights to aldermen is in the Supreme Court, Standing Committee is yet to be formed. Once the court delivers its judgement, Standing Committee will be constituted and two private agencies will be hired to fast-track the work, he said. “Till that time, we will also decide whether to persist with the existing three agencies that are hostile towards each other and hinder the progress,” he added.
In the past few days, Kejriwal also visited Bhalswa and Okhla landfills to assess the progress there. Though the pace at Bhalswa is faster than the set target, approximately 65-70 lakh tonnes of waste is still left and we need an additional agency, he said, adding that the work is slower at Okhla and it, too, needs another agency.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the AAP leaders, including the mayor, had no administrative experience, that’s why they had failed to monitor the work and the progress was slow.
“It is shocking to see the CM pleading that it cannot hire a new agency as MCD’s Standing Committee is not in place. It is AAP’s political fear that is not allowing the formation of the committee. To speed up development work, AAP should allow its formation by giving voting rights to aldermen,” Kapoor said.
