Councillors to debate infra loan for road maintenance in Delhi

The transfer of the roads is key to the Delhi government’s ambitious project to revamp Delhi’s 1,400km arterial road network that was announced in the state budget in March

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House on Thursday deferred a call on transferring the cleaning of roads under the jurisdiction of the civic body to the Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD), senior officers aware of the matter said.

BJP councillors hold placards and shout slogans during the MCD House meeting on Thursday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

The transfer of the roads is key to the Delhi government’s ambitious project to revamp Delhi’s 1,400km arterial road network that was announced in the state budget in March.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Virendra Sachdeva said that MCD is an independent body and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wants to make it a department of Delhi government. “The mayor had announced handing over the cleaning of all PWD roads of Delhi to PWD in the last corporation meeting, but she had to withdraw her decision today,” Sachdeva said.

Mayor Shelly Oberoi did not comment on the reason for deferring the proposal. HT reached out to a Delhi government spokesperson for a comment regarding the same but did not get a response.

On April 4, the Delhi cabinet approved a proposal by the state environment department to purchase 70 mechanical sweeping machines on roads maintained by PWD. It also decided to purchase 250 water sprinkling machines fitted with anti-smog guns. A sum of ₹2,388 crore was to be spent on the project in the next seven to 10 years, Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said after the cabinet meet.

All roads wider than 60 feet were handed over to PWD on January 10, 2012 for maintenance, but their cleaning remained the responsibility of the MCD.

A similar proposal related to the project was tabled and approved in the last house meeting held on May 2. Under the proposal, the state environment ministry sought MCD’s consent for procurement of anti-smog guns, integrated water sprinklers and mechanical road sweepers since cleaning of the roads is the primary responsibility of the civic body.

However, the municipal commissioner on May 11 flagged several legal obstacles in the proposal, and added that the House’s recommendation will be presented before lieutenant governor VK Saxena.

In his written submission to the House, commissioner Gyanesh Bharti said these machines cannot be practically relocated to work on smaller colony roads due to obstacles such vehicle parking, encroachment and lack of even surface.