: The future of garbage collection in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation continued to be unclear on Wednesday, with leaders of the ruling-BJP locked in a bitter battle with each other over outsourcing the job.
The contract for collecting garbage in the Sadar Paharganj, City and Karol Bagh Zones was set to expire on March 31. A new proposal, which included the Narela Zone as well, was presented before the House on March 10. The civic body carries out garbage collection in Narela Zone on its own, while the remaining Rohini and Civil Lines have a different contract for door-to-door collection.
While the House passed the proposal, Mayor Ravinder Gupta refused to sign the minutes of the meeting, which was needed as the final approval of the Corporation. Mr. Gupta insisted that the Rs.1,300 per tonnes rate being quoted in the proposal was too high.
“I will not sign the minutes. The work can be done for Rs.500 per tonne. The Corporation is undergoing a financial crisis; we cannot afford to waste money,” Mr. Gupta said.
Leader of the House Yogender Chandolia, however, said the rate was the best possible as the contractor would have to deploy more trucks, excavators and compactors. He even wrote to Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay complaining about the Mayor “over-stepping” his powers.
As the stalemate continued, the Standing Committee decided at a meeting on Wednesday that garbage collection would not stop.
Mohan Bhardwaj, chairperson of the panel, said: “We will not allow garbage collection in these three zones to suffer.”
Mr. Chandolia said the current concessionaire would be asked to continue till the work orders of the new contract were issued. “The new Mayor will sign the minutes,” said Mr. Chandolia, referring to the Mayoral polls in April.
This unprecedented public spat between BJP leaders has the Opposition Congress amused.
“The BJP is too busy fighting amongst itself. Our real concern is that the sanitation services should not suffer,” said Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel.
Contract for collecting garbage in the Sadar Paharganj, City and Karol Bagh Zones will expire on March 31
