E-Paper
Civic bodies yet to install portable washbasins
New Delhi
New Delhi
Despite instructions from chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to set up portable washbasins and automatic hand wash dispensers at public places to check the spread of coronavirus, the civic bodies were yet to implement the order till Tuesday evening.
All three civic bodies maintained they had issued directives to the market associations and the RWAs to keep hand-wash facilities or hand sanitisers in their markets and colonies.
A senior official at the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said no portable washbasin for hand wash had been set up yet by the civic body.
“We asked market associations to install portable washbasins at the entrance of markets. The public health department is ensuring restaurants and cafes are keeping sanitisers to disinfect visitors,” mayor SDMC mayor Sunita Kangra said.
Kejriwal on Monday had directed the three municipalities to set up portable washbasins with automatic soap dispensers at public places.
A senior official of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) said the civic body was limited to the task of disseminating information about coronavirus and providing its medical staff at the quarantine centres but “there is nothing specific” about installing portable washbasins and hand sanitisers at public places.
“We issued specific directions to the market associations and the RWAs to implement this order by putting hand wash facilities or sanitisers in their markets and colonies,” a senior official at EDMC’s health department said on condition of anonymity.
Officials of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation that the civic body would inspect market places to check if they were following the order.
Ashwani Marwah, general secretary of the Traders’ Association of Lajpat Nagar, said they were yet to get any such directive from the civic body.
“We have not yet got any message from the SDMC to put up portable washbasins in the market place. However, as our own initiative, we asked each shop owner to keep hand sanitisers at their reception counters so that visitors can disinfect themselves,” Marwah said.
