Of the 4,203 local bodies surveyed, the East civic body ranked 341 in the last Swachh Survekshan Survey.The new Commissioner of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has given officials one week to fix around 60% of toilets which are in an unusable state.
East civic body Commissioner Dilraj Kaur said, “I found that around 60% of the toilets are unusable due to non-availability of water, electricity, sewage issues or lack of cleanliness. I am communicating with the heads of all departments and getting the issue of electricity and water fixed.”
“The officials of my department have been given a week’s time to fix the problems at our end, else they will face action,” she said. Kaur added that she will conduct an inspection after the deadline ends.
The East civic body has built 95 community toilets and 477 public toilets to declare itself open defecation-free.
Out of these, five community toilets and 135 public toilets were built under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan scheme.
Of the 4,203 local bodies surveyed, the East civic body ranked 341 in the last Swachh Survekshan Survey.
The step is being taken to ensure the East body receives the Open Defecation Free Tag, requests for which have been rejected twice by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, after defects were spotted in toilets in areas such as Khichdipur, Sunder Nagri, Lal Bagh and other places.
“We are putting up mobile toilets in areas where there are not enough public toilets,” said Kaur.
“We are also advertising our citizen helpline — 155303 — on autos, so that people can register sanitation-related and other complaints. As of now, we have roped in more than 80 autos for the same, and are planning to add more,” Kaur added.
