Taking the party’s poll promise of removing the mountains of garbage around Delhi with the utmost seriousness, Delhi Deputy Chief minister Manish Sisodia announced that he will be visiting the sites every week from January 6 to review the work.
Removing the three mountains of garbage was one of the key promises that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had made in their successful campaign for the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) earlier this month.
The AAP is the largest party in the municipal body, with 134 councillors, making its nominee, Dr Shelly Oberoi, a favourite for the post of mayor.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which ruled the three civic bodies, before unification, for 15 years, has nominated Rekha Gupta as its candidate for the post of mayor. It has 104 councillors in the body.
The election for the Delhi mayor will be held on January 6. Along with the 250 councillors in the MCD, the seven MPs and 14 MLAs will vote in the election.
Visiting the Okhla landfill site along with Oberoi and deputy mayor nominee Aaley Mohammad Iqbal, Sisodia said, “Clearing the garbage mountains of Delhi in Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalsawa was not the priority of the previous government. That is why the height of these landfill sites has continued to rise over the last 15 years.”
“But now we are ready with an action plan to eliminate these garbage mounds from Delhi. After the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor is completed on January 6, the government will work on a war footing to free Delhi from these garbage mounds,” Sisodia said.
During the visit to the site, Sisodia said that currently the work of clearing the landfill sites is going at a slow pace and we need double the speed to achieve their goals.
“From now onwards, I will inspect these landfill sites every week and monitor the work being done closely. As soon as the Mayor and Deputy Mayor take oath, the speed of the clearing process will be doubled,” he added.
Sisodia further said that the number of waste disposal machines will be increased at the landfill site to expedite the work. “Along with that, regular inspections at these sites will also give a boost to the work. So far, the previous government has only deceived the people of Delhi in the name of removing these sites,” he said.
The Deputy CM added that Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is an engineer himself and that he has made a detailed plan to eliminate these garbage mounds from Delhi.
“His vision is to make Delhi the cleanest and most beautiful capital in the world and now the work has been started in this direction. This will not only prove to be beneficial for the environment but will also improve the quality of life of people living nearby,” Sisodia added.