The Hindu : New Delhi News : Commissioner suspends seven sanitation employees

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Commissioner suspends seven sanitation employees

Staff Reporter

Civic body has failed miserably to clean all the drains: BJP

HOLD-UP: Scene at ITO in New Delhi on Tuesday after the heavy downpour in the morning .- PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

NEW DELHI: Municipal Commissioner A. K. Nigam on Tuesday suspended seven sanitation employees for dereliction of duty even as the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress-led municipal administration of failing miserably to clean drains and remove silt leading to waterlogging at several places during the heavy showers in the morning.

After receiving several complaints, Mr. Nigam suspended junior engineer Manoj Kumar, in charge of Dilshad Garden, Nand Nagri and Gokulpuri wards in Shahdara-North Zone, besides ordering major penalty proceedings against him. Severe penal action has also been ordered against sanitary superintendent Shahender Singh of the same zone.

Similarly, five assistant sanitary inspectors and a sanitary guide, all belonging to Shahdara-North Zone, have also been suspended. Action against all these officials was taken after Mr. Nigam, who conducted surprise checks in Shahdara-North Zone on Monday, found sub-standard sanitation conditions in the areas of these sanitation employees.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in MCD Subhash Arya alleged that with the monsoon round the corner, the civic body had failed miserably to clean all the drains. "The MCD has 1,296 drains, but so far it has cleaned only 466, while work in 770 is still on. Interestingly, cleaning work of 59 drains is yet to begin. This exposes the so-called preparedness of the civic body to deal with monsoon-related civic problems," he added.

The senior BJP Councillor alleged that despite an increase in the budget for cleaning of drains, the MCD had fared badly. "Moreover, silt being removed from drains is also not being transported to landfill site, making the entire exercise useless. It is blatant waste of public money," he charged. Mr. Arya also flayed the Delhi Government and the Delhi Jal Board for not cleaning their drains and sewers, further aggravating the problem.

Meanwhile, taking serious view of incidents of water logging across the city on Tuesday morning, Development Minister A.K. Walia held a high-level meeting with senior MCD, NDMC, Public Works Department, Flood and Irrigation Department and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation officials directing them to tackle the problem of water logging in their respective areas.

Ordering joint inspection by officials of various civic agencies at vulnerable water logging points, Dr. Walia asked officials to take sever penal action against those responsible for Tuesday's waterlogging. Ordering no road-cutting till September, the Minister asked officials to ensure that all civic problems are rectified before the onset of the monsoon.

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