Denmark envoy flags ‘trashy’ plot, NDMC swings into action

Danish ambassador to India, Freddy Svane, complained about trash between Danish and Greek embassies in New Delhi, prompting clean-up by NDMC.

Denmark’s ambassador to India, Freddy Svane, in a video posted on social media on Wednesday, complained about burgeoning mounds of trash on a vacant plot between the Danish and Greek embassies in Chanakyapuri, a push that prompted the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to begin clean-up operations on the littered tract within hours.

NDMC conducts a cleaning drive near the Denmark Embassy on Wednesday. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

“Welcome to great, green and trashy New Delhi,” he said in the 37-second video posted on his X handle.

Svane gestured towards the Danish and Greek embassy buildings on either side of the lane.

“Here we have the Danish embassy and we have the Greek embassy over there. This should be a service lane, but you see it’s full of trash, and people are just dumping whatever they like... So, I hope somebody will listen to this and take action. No more nice words, just action, my friends,” he said, pointing to heaps of construction waste and garbage strewn across the plot.

He tagged the offices of the Delhi chief minister and the lieutenant governor in the post.

The embassies are located on Dr S Radhakrishnan Marg in the high-security diplomatic enclave.

To be sure, NDMC, which administers the Lutyens’ Delhi region, in an official statement said that the patch of land is not a service lane, but stressed that it “welcomes feedback from any stakeholder for improving its services”.

“In this regard, the social media message from H. E. Freddy Svane, Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy was promptly acted upon. Which was later acknowledged by the Ambassador himself to the media. Immediate steps have been taken on the plot of land (which is not a service lane) by lifting the dumped material,” said the statement.

An NDMC official who asked not to be named said that the civic body regularly cleans roads and service lanes in the diplomatic zone, but claimed that the area in question is a private plot that is not under the agency’s jurisdiction.

“The space is closed from one end and does not lead to any area. We have cleaned the area, but it is a private plot,” said the official.

Following the clean-up, Svane told HT he appreciated the prompt action by NDMC and his intention was to only point out the issue and not blame anyone.

“This has been a problem for a while and today I saw more trash being thrown. I just wanted to bring attention to the problem,” he said, adding that he had not made a formal complaint with the NDMC.

This is not the first time a diplomat in New Delhi has used social media to seek the civic body’s attention.

In October last year, Singapore high commissioner Simon Wong posted on X a photograph of an NDMC signboard that misspelt his country as “Singapur”.

“It is always good to spell check first,” he wrote.

He thanked the civic body for a “quick fix” in another post a few hours later.