Sign in

East Delhi launches sanitation drive to build ‘smart colonies’

EDMC has launched a series of measures to clean up select neighbourhoods in its jurisdiction under ‘Smart Colonies’ drive.

Updated on: Oct 27, 2016, 12:24:33 IST
Hindustan Times | By , New Delhi
Share
Share via
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
Copy link
  • copy link

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has launched a series of measures to clean up select neighbourhoods in its jurisdiction under ‘Smart Colonies’ drive.

To begin with, sanitation officials are organising meetings with shopkeepers and vendors to clean up local markets and remove encroachments. (Arun Sharma/HT Photo)
To begin with, sanitation officials are organising meetings with shopkeepers and vendors to clean up local markets and remove encroachments. (Arun Sharma/HT Photo)

The project was launched in Preet Vihar and Dilshad Garden in east Delhi.

Besides improving the sanitation services and instilling better civic sense among residents through awareness drives, the department will work to give a “perfect” look to these neighbourhoods. “The objective is to change the image of the colonies in east Delhi,” said a senior EDMC official.

To begin with, sanitation officials are organising meetings with shopkeepers and vendors to clean up local markets and remove encroachments.

“We have also distributed dustbins to vendors and shopkeepers so that they won’t dump their waste on roadsides. Those who break the rules are being fined,” said EDMC standing committee chairman, Jitender Chaudhary.

He said tippers pick up garbage from identified sites and roadsides at least twice a day.

Parks are being beautified by planting seasonal saplings and installing benches. “We are developing theme-based parks, depending on the availability of space in these areas,” said Chaudhary.

Vermi-compositing, adopted by EDMC in association with an NGO and Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs), is getting a lot of public attention. “We have initiated the project from B block Preet Vihar to treat the green waste. The NGO has constructed six pits here to convert the segregated garbage (green and kitchen waste) into manure by earthworms,” said an official.

Other blocks are also following the model, he said.

According to the EDMC official, the initiative will help reduce the quantity of garbage send to the Ghazipur landfill.

  • Vibha Sharma
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Vibha Sharma

    Vibha Sharma covers municipal bodies in Delhi. A journalist for almost a decade, she has also worked for the hyper-local editions of Hindustan Times, covering civic concerns in south Delhi, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad.Read More