‘No water’ plaints up by 151% in 3 years in Delhi: Report | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
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‘No water’ plaints up by 151% in 3 years in Delhi: Report

New Delhi | By
Jun 21, 2019 05:41 AM IST

The report was released by NGO Praja Foundation Thursday at a press conference in Delhi. The Mumbai-based non-partisan, voluntary organisation annually brings out a report on the state of civic amenities in the city.

Highlighting the state of Delhi’s water supply network, among other civic services, a report compiled by NGO Praja Foundation said complaints regarding ‘no water supply’ have gone up by 151% in the three years since 2015.

According to the report, no supply calls made to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) increased from 34,554 in 2015 to 86,637 in 2018.(HT Photo)
According to the report, no supply calls made to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) increased from 34,554 in 2015 to 86,637 in 2018.(HT Photo)

The report was released by NGO Praja Foundation Thursday at a press conference in Delhi. The Mumbai-based non-partisan, voluntary organisation annually brings out a report on the state of civic amenities in the city.

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According to the report, no supply calls made to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) increased from 34,554 in 2015 to 86,637 in 2018.

Delhi Jal Board, however, said the number of complaints to the agency going up does not mean that the quality of service has gone down. “The fact is that there was no helpline till 2015. So, when we launched a mobile number on which complaints could be lodged, they started pouring in. Often, one customer makes repeated calls and each call is registered as a complaint,” Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman Dinesh Mohaniya said.

Garbage collection 

But the most alarming number was with regard to garbage collection. The report said the number of complaints regarding ‘garbage not being collected’ went up by 316% from 2015 to 2018.

Even in the three municipal corporations, solid waste management complaints (28,349) were second only to complaints related to buildings and unauthorised constructions (65,277).

A senior north municipal corporation official said they have recently provided avenues to residents to lodge complaints about overflowing dhalaos and smelly urinals and that has led to a spike in calls to helplines. “We are following up on each and every complaint,” he said.

Lack of toilets

Milind Mhaske, director, Praja Foundation, said, “Another civic challenge we found was a high disparity in public toilets available for women as compared to men. In terms of toilet to population ratio, the Swachh Bharat norm is ‘one public toilet seat for 100-400 men’ and ‘one public toilet seat for 100-200 women,’ while in Delhi, there is one public toilet seat for 3,982 men, and one public toilet seat for 9,630 women.”

Nitai Mehta, founder and managing trustee of Praja Foundation, said in order to improve accountability of the local government, the municipalities need to develop a citizens’ charter and fix a time frame within which the complaint will be resolved.

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