Poor neighbourhoods and villages in North Delhi will be adopted by local councillors in an effort to develop the most neglected areas within each ward.
North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee chairperson Mohan Bharadwaj at a committee meeting, on Wednesday, asked councillors to identify one neighbourhood or village in their ward and work towards making it a “model basti or village”.
“Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech that all MPs should adopt a village and make it a model one, we will adopt a neighbourhood in an unauthorised colony or resettlement area or village.”
Mr. Bharadwaj said everything from good schools and hospitals to basic cleanliness will be part of the agenda for the model neighbourhoods and villages.
Leader of the House, Mira Aggarwal, added that Mr. Modi’s speech was the first time that a Prime Minister had appealed to the nation from the Red Fort to keep the country clean. “Not just political will, but we need public participation for getting Delhi off the most polluted cities’ lists.”
However, the Congress was not convinced of the effectiveness of the corporation’s ongoing sanitation drive. “We all agree that Delhi should be clean, but we do these sanitation drives every year. Nothing has changed in the seven years the BJP has ruled the municipal corporation,” said Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel.
