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Gzb mayor, municipal commissioner end spat, say all is well
Ghaziabad: City mayor Asha Sharma and municipal commissioner Dinesh Chandra Thursday together addressed a press briefing and outlined the road map for Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad: City mayor Asha Sharma and municipal commissioner Dinesh Chandra Thursday together addressed a press briefing and outlined the road map for Ghaziabad securing a better ranking in the ongoing ‘Swachh Survekshan, 2020’.
The two officials had been at loggerheads over the past few months, with Sharma shooting off at least two letters to the chief minister and other officials seeking Chandra’s transfer. She had also accused the corporation officials of laxity and said that had led to tax evasions of about ₹50 crore.
But the two Thursday called a cessation of hostilities and presented a road map for getting things done to improve the city’s Swachh ranking under the ongoing survey that will end in December. In 2019, Ghaziabad had jumped from rank 351 to rank 13 and officials, this time, are trying to take city into the top 10 list.
“The road map has a lot of important things that I have discussed with municipal commissioner and other officials and all of us must work together to get a better ranking for the city. The plan includes fixing responsibility of officials, better garbage management, ensuring 100% door-to-door garbage collection and GPS tracking of garbage trucks, among others,” Sharma said.
When asked about the letters she sent to the CM, the mayor said she had sent at least six letters to the municipal commissioner, prior to writing the CM, but she received no response.
“Hence, I had to write to the government. These are things of the past now and we all will be working together to bring more development and ensure a better ranking for the city. Under the road map, there will be weekly monitoring of construction & demolition waste and we also aim to get the city an ODF++ (open defecation free) certification. The action by officials against plastic menace is appreciated but we must work with the administration and police to help stop plastic from entering the city,” she said.
The road map also includes plan to construct 10 pink toilets, meant exclusively for women. The city, at present, as three pink toilets.
Chandra said he has instituted an inquiry into the allegations of tax evasion made by Sharma.
“We have already written to the state government to blacklist a firm and terminate the contract given to it in 2016 for replacing sodium lamps with LED ones. The firm had told us that it has replaced about 60,000 streetlights, but we found that the number was only about 36,500. So, on the directions of the government, we paid them lesser than the contract amount,” he said.
“We have given a police complaint for an FIR to be lodged against officials of the firm. We are now replacing the remaining lights on our own,” Chandra said.
On November 18, UP chief secretary RK Tiwari had conducted a surprise inspection and also expressed his displeasure with the unhygienic conditions prevailing near the corporation headquarters.
Tiwari had also directed Chandra to make an adverse entry in the service book of the chief engineer and said he could not find the details of progress and payments made for works related to 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
“During the inspection, the details sought by the chief secretary were not available readily but we have compiled these in a booklet and sent them to the chief secretary’s office,” Chandra said.
