Civic bodies to place 8,000 new trash cans

One of the casualties of the 2008 serial blasts in the Capital — dustbins — will be making a comeback across city streets, markets and other busy spots.

The three municipal corporations of Delhi will be putting in place 8,000 new 100-litre bins across the city. Tenders for procuring the bins have been floated by the civic bodies and within a month the first batch will be installed.

The erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi had stopped installing bins after the blasts, some of which had been set off by bombs placed in dustbins. The police had raised security concerns while objecting to bins in crowded places.

But, after the Centre launched the Swachh Bharat initiative on October 2, there seems to have been a change in the policy. According to senior municipal officials, the Delhi Police have agreed to dustbins being placed, with the caveat that bins in densely crowded areas should be monitored.

North Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner Pravin Kumar Gupta said the police had asked the civic bodies to be “careful”, but had “not said no” to new bins.

“We haven’t put up bins for many years now due to objections from the police. But, now we are going ahead with procuring 100-litre stainless steel bins,” said Mr. Gupta.

The North Corporation invited bids for 2,000 stainless steel bins on November 17. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation will be procuring 4,000 bins and 2,000 will be bought by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, said the commissioner of the two bodies, Manish Gupta.

He said: “We will start putting up the first bunch of these bins in one month. We are working with market associations to devise a system for the clearing and maintenance of the bins.”