The Mayor Dr. Shelly Oberoi on Tuesday directed the Municipal Commissioner Ashwani Kumar to give an explanation within two days stating reasons behind failure of waste collection agencies under the civic body in carrying out door-to-door collection of garbage across several areas in the city.

“Given the severity of this issue and the fact that this might be happening in many wards across Delhi, Commissioner (MCD) is directed to share his responses to the following questions within two days, i.e. by 5pm on Thursday, 26th September,” Mayor’s communication to the MCD official read.

She asked the commissioner to, “arrange for door- to -door collection of segregated solid waste from all households including slums and informal settlements, commercial, institutional and other non residential premises. From multi-storage buildings, large commercial complexes, malls, housing complexes, etc., this may be collected from the entry gate or any other designated location,” she added.

In her letter to the Commissioner, she mentioned that she has been receiving complaints from the councilors across the civic body wards from the city that the concerned agencies responsible for waste collection are failing to carry out daily door-to-door collection of garbage in their respective wards. The mayor further asked him whether he is aware that the agencies under the corporation have stopped the daily collection of waste from doorsteps across many localities of the city.

Dr Oberoi also asked the top MCD official as to what was the extent of the issue, and what are the reasons behind the agencies not performing in this domain and directed him to come up with measures that can be taken to timely resolve the issue as the same is crucial with regard to hygiene. She stressed that the matter poses a great risk to the health of lakhs of residents across the city.

Mentioning in her letter that the problem is leading to large piles of garbage being collected across localities of the national capital, she cautioned that this could also become a source for propagation of several diseases such as Dengue. The Mayor said that she had visited several localities to first hand witness the ground reality.

These places included Lado Sarai, Madipur, Vikaspuri, Patel Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri, Mahavir Enclave, Mohan Garden and Bindapur, she said, adding that during her visit she found that there is no door-to-door collection happening, and piles of garbage had accumulated at several points.

According to her, the residents of these localities have also expressed their dissatisfaction regarding garbage not being collected from the doorsteps by the agencies.