The week-long strike by sanitation workers of the BJP-ruled civic bodies became a rallying point for politicians to score brownie points. However, the Aam Aadmi Party legislators soon found themselves at the receiving end as they were forced to pick up the broom to clean the garbage littered on the streets by striking sanitation workers in East Delhi.
An MLA said he started getting cold feet as the ‘expectations’ of the people kept rising. “Since garbage collection in East Delhi had come to a standstill, people in the area started demanding us to visit their lanes as well. We realised we have to end the symbolic initiative soon, after one of the residents requested us to dispose of the carcass of a dog,” the legislator said.
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Issuance of ration cards is one of the most talked-about government services in any discourse related to corruption in the Capital. It was palpable even at the launch of the anti-corruption helpline by the Delhi Government on Sunday.
Inaugurating the helpline, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal dialled 1031 and registered a dummy complaint – it was about a food inspector of the Food & Supplies Department’s demanding Rs. 2000 for issuing a ration card.
Even as the audience burst into laughter as Mr. Kejriwal continued to give the required details to the customer care executive filing the complaint, S.S.Yadav Secretary (Food & Supplies), who was also hosting the event at Talkatora Stadium, kept smiling standing next to the Chief Minister.
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Unhappy with the attitude of several road-owning agencies over the years, the Delhi Traffic Police will rely on the common sense of the Capital’s drivers to keep congestion in check this monsoon season.
The traffic police have unofficially decided not to write to civic agencies such as the Municipal Corporations of Delhi, the PWD, the CPWD and the DDA about stretches prone to waterlogging this year.
The reason: serial noncompliance and lack of action to remedy the situation by these road-owning agencies.
Between 1,500 and 2,000 points where waterlogging causes traffic snarls every monsoon are brought to the notice of the said agencies on an annual basis.
The agencies, however, have been found to ‘do nothing to remedy the situation’ despite several and repeated reminders, according to a senior traffic official.
So, this year, the traffic police will, instead, communicate these to the general public through social media platforms and its own web-based app to sound drivers out in advance.
“We will forewarn drivers so they can avoid the stretches — even if it requires a long daily exercise — instead of writing letters upon letters to different agencies that have not complied with our requests over the years,” said a source adding that ensuring commuter comfort was the objective instead of mere cosmetic changes to road engineering.
“This is believed to be a better alternative at ensuring that discerning drivers don’t fall prey to rain-related congestion of their own volition than voluminous, annual paper work made up of exchanges between government agencies,” the source added.
By Vishal Kant and
Jatin Anand
