The Hindu : New Delhi News : MCD does a U-turn over contract with Sulabh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 26, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

MCD does a U-turn over contract with Sulabh

Staff Reporter

Contract with NGO for running toilets was cancelled a month ago

NEW DELHI: After cancelling its 30-year contract with the non-government organisation Sulabh International for running 1,963 community toilet complexes (CTCs) in the city a month ago following criticism by Councillors over their maintenance, the top political functionaries in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi are now planning to revive the contract with the same NGO.

Interestingly, the same deliberative wing of the civic body that created a hullabaloo over alleged poor functioning and maintenance of 1,963 CTCs across the city has reportedly prepared a draft to allow Sulabh International to run the CTCs.

The draft also states that it was due to the failure of the civic body to make timely payments to the NGO that affected proper operation of these CTCs.

Further it said that the NGO did a fairly good job in running these public utilities, and since it has a proper infrastructure, it should be allowed to run these CTCs again.

On the other hand, the executive wing is planning to run these CTCs by roping in multinationals and reputed firms having expertise in running toilet blocks.

At a recent meeting, the MCD Standing Committee was told that at present the MCD was running all the CTCs on its own with the help of its safai karamcharis.

The meeting was also informed that a proposal was being prepared to hand over these CTCs in a more systematic and efficient way by giving these to various reputed organisations, some of which have already shown keen interest in the project.

However, Vijender Gupta, Leader of Opposition in the MCD Standing Committee who first raised the issue that led to the cancellation of the contract, said if the Congress goes ahead with the proposal, it will not only act against the wishes of the citizens' elected representatives but also cheat the people whom they have promised better civic amenities.

"As the contract has already been cancelled, it is technically not feasible to revive the contract. The NGO misused the contract by earning crores of revenue through advertisements but failed to provide good service to residents. We will protest any such move," Mr. Gupta added.

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