Satish Upadhyay, a former Delhi BJP President, is the ViceChairman of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). He has also been the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). Upadhyay was the Chairman, Education Committee, SDMC from 2012-2014. He had also served as Vice President of the Delhi BJP unit from 2010-2012 and as Secretary of the unit in 2009-2010. While in college, Upadhyay joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and contested the DUSU elections as an ABVP candidate. He was the VicePresident of DUSU in 1982-1983. He was Secretary of the ABVP (Delhi) from 1984 to 1986. In an interview with Nikhil Vyas, Upadhyay talks about the Green Energy project, beautification and redevelopment work at the Prachin Hanuman Mandir at Connaught Place in the national capital and the Integrated Command and Control Centre of the NDMC at Palika Kendra. Excerpts:

Can you talk about the Green Energy project?

A: NDMC’s mission is to become the first urban local body to switch completely to Green Energy by 2025. NDMC is a power DISCOM and intends to make itself a complete Green Energy consumer. The Council approved the procurement of 142 MW hydro power from Teesta-III on medium-term basis, that is for three years, and further extendable by up to two years through M/s PTC India Ltd @ Rs 5.03/kWh (inclusive of transmission charges and losses) at the delivery point which is an NDMC area.

Can you elaborate on Mechanical Road Sweeping at Hanuman Mandir?

A: To enhance the beautification of the New Delhi area and to provide facilities to the thousands of visitors and devotees of the Prachin Hanuman Mandir, Connaught Place, NDMC will start soon the second phase of 100 per cent Mechanical Sweeping at Hanuman Mandir Vatika Complex. Once the beautification and redevelopment work of Hanuman Mandir Vatika is completed, the housekeeping work, that is 100 per cent Mechanical Sweeping with modern machines will start. The NDMC has also approved mechanical sweeping for the Connaught Place area. The sweeping work will be done twice – at night after closing of shops from 11 pm onwards and during the day.

Can you elaborate on the Integrated Command and Control Centre of the NDMC at Palika Kendra?

A: NDMC has set up this Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) for managing multiple services from a single location on a common platform under the Smart City Mission. More than 21 NDMC services like solid waste management, street lighting, parking, sewage treatment plant etc. have been integrated on this platform. This has been set up at Palika Kendra. The first phase of setting up physical infrastructure and integration of 21 NDMC services has been completed which includes smart street lights, GPS, smart environmental sensor, smart parking, public Wi-Fi, online building plan approval, NDMC Mobile APP, Solid Waste Management (SWM), birth & death certificate, event management, VMS (Variable Messaging Sign), smart electric meter, electricity billing, e-hospital, sewage treatment plant, property tax, Estate -I, central workshop, health licence, CCTV and smart bicycle. In the second phase, work on the development of ERP applications will be completed. Till date the Estate-I module, Property Tax and Central Workshop Management have been developed. Data migration and validation of data of Property Tax are under progress. Estate-II and Asset Management software are under development. Further services will be integrated in ICCC as and when these services will be implemented in NDMC like Electric SCADA, Water SCADA, etc.

Can you brief us about the sewage treatment plants (STPs)?

A: Our mission is ”Total Green”. Presently, the NDMC is using 50 per cent sewerage water but our target is 100 per cent and planning is on for the installation of more STPs in NDMC under ”Mission Green”. Presently, we have STPs at Nehru Park, Singapore Park, BRICS Rose Garden, Gole Market and Lodhi Garden.

Can you brief us about the plantation programme for the monsoon season?

A: The Forest Department of GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi) has given the plantation target to NDMC of 2,847 trees and five lakh shrubs. The Horticulture Department will plant the saplings as per the target and will also try to plant the maximum amount of ground cover-to-cover under the NDMC area.

Can you brief us on Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJY) scheme ?

A: On May 25, the Council gave its in-principle approval for the implementation of the Centre’s flagship Ayushman Bharat Pradhanmantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJY) scheme in the NDMC area for residents. The insurance scheme aims to provide an annual health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. Presently, the floating population of NDMC area as per census 2011 is around 2.5 lakh. Out of this population, the data of the beneficiaries under this scheme would be taken from DM, New Delhi district and the scheme would be implemented for them. There are people in the NDMC area who are living in the JJ Cluster, Valimiki Basti and below the poverty line. These groups of people hardly make a living and it is necessary for us to implement Ayushman Bharat Yojna soon for them.

Can you brief us about other initiatives undertaken by NDMC?

A: NDMC is organising a ‘Suvidha Camp’ on the second Saturday of every month at the NDMC Convention Centre, Jai Singh Road and on the fourth Saturday of every month at RWA Centres for speedy redressal of public grievances. Apart from organising the Suvidha Camps, NDMC has also launched a “Jan Suvidha Portal” as a contactless grievance redressal mechanism for the residents and service users of NDMC. The link for the Jan Suvidha portal is available on NDMC website (https://www.ndmc.gov.in/complaints.aspx). The Jan Suvidha Portal can be used for lodging grievances, tracking grievance status and for giving feedback on the grievance redressal mechanism.