If the claims of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) are to be believed, the residents of East Delhi’s group housing societies may just find areas in the vicinity surprisingly clean. To this end, the corporation has decided to give out free small-and-big sized dustbins to all the markets in the region.
According to the proposal, the civic body will provide small dustbins to all shopkeepers and vendors. It would also install five to 10 big ones, with a 20-litre capacity, in the marketplace and surrounding areas.
EDMC mayor Satya Sharma told City Spidey that the vendors and shopkeepers would have the dustbins by next week. She said, “We have earmarked 100 small dustbins for every residential area and 500 big ones for the market areas. These numbers can be increased according to the demand.”
Sharma said the intent is to have every market area look clean before Diwali. She also added that the orders indeed came from the central government.
When City Spidey spoke of shortage of manpower, which the corporation has been claiming for long, she said, “It will not require any extra workers. Shopkeepers and vendors would be responsible for dumping the garbage into big dustbins and safai karmies would collect the garbage from there. It’s a process that will, sort of, make the use of dustbins mandatory.”
But will the directive lead to sure outcomes? Residents have their own misgivings. Alka Govil, a resident of East End Apartments, has a few pertinent questions for the corporation: Would the vendors use the dustbins at all? If not, what action would the corporation take against them? Is there any plan in place for proper monitoring of the market areas? “EDMC’s proposal to distribute dustbins is appreciable, but that will not be enough. I don’t think you can expect a change unless the corporation takes punitive action against the defaulters. I have been raising this issue for several years for my own area,” Govil argued.
