MCD trusts a private firm with its new home

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has 55,000 safai karamcharis (sanitation workers) on its rolls but wants to outsource the task of keeping its new headquarters — the swanky 28-storey Civic Centre in central Delhi — to a private firm.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has 55,000 safai karamcharis (sanitation workers) on its rolls but wants to outsource the task of keeping its new headquarters — the swanky 28-storey Civic Centre in central Delhi — to a private firm.

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"This is a highly specialised job which is why we are hiring a private firm. The process of selection will be completed shortly," Deep Mathur, press and information director, MCD, said on Wednesday.

The civic body will shift to Civic Centre - the tallest building in Delhi, built at a cost of Rs 650 crore - this month.

"The selected firm will be responsible for housekeeping, garbage collection, cleaning the toilets, maintaining the lifts, cleaning the building's façade, horticulture work, maintaining the auditoriums among other things," Mathur said.

The civic agency has already floated a Request for Proposal (RFP) and a number of private firms have already shown interest in the project, an MCD official said. According to the civic agency, once it shifts to the Civic Centre, these workers will be shifted to other zones depending on the requirement.

"We'll shift the sanitation workers from Townhall (MCD's current headquarters) to other areas. There is a lot of demand in other zones," the official said.

MCD says the maintenance of Civic Centre is based on the lines of the India Habitat Centre that follows the pattern of housekeeping of the building. The firm’s staff will maintain the building round the clock. The 28-storey Civic Centre was inaugurated in April this year.