Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi addressing the MCD House amid protests by BJP councillors on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) decision to put on hold the proposal to hand over cleaning of 1,480-km of its roads to the Public Works Department (PWD) will delay the government’s project to give the city roads a makeover, officials said.
The MCD House on Thursday heard the agenda amid protests from the opposition councillors of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who said the move would turn the civic body into a department of the Delhi government. However, the MCD put the proposal on hold, nearly a month after the House had cleared it.
Officials of the MCD and the office of Mayor Shelly Oberoi did not respond to requests seeking a comment.
On January 28, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a plan to beautify the city’s roads by engaging over 100 mechanised sweepers along with deploying 150 sprinkler tankers on large PWD roads and 250 anti-smog guns-cum-sprinklers to clean smaller roads and lanes under the MCD. For this, the Delhi Cabinet in April approved ₹2,388 crore.
On May 2, the Aam Aadmi Party-led MCD House had passed the proposal to transfer the cleaning of the civic body’s roads to the PWD.
A senior PWD official said, “While the department is the maintenance agency of the 1,480-km of roads, they are still owned by the MCD. For the cleaning project to take off, the Delhi Cabinet’s proposal has to be approved by the MCD.”
MCD Standing Committee member and BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat said sanitation is a key responsibility of the civic body and the proposal, “which will affect employees of the MCD sanitation department among others, is an attempt to take that responsibility away”.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that AAP is trying to take away the MCD’s independence, but his party will not allow it.
In addition to cleaning roads, the MCD’s functions include desilting drains and sanitation among others.