This story is from September 7, 2019

Civic wardens take charge to clean Connaught Place

Soon, Connaught Place will no longer be associated with paan-stained walls, overflowing dustbins and garbage scattered on the pavements as New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has deployed civic wardens to keep the area neat and clean.
Civic wardens take charge to clean Connaught Place
Removing stains that strain
NEW DELHI: Soon, Connaught Place will no longer be associated with paan-stained walls, overflowing dustbins and garbage scattered on the pavements as New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has deployed civic wardens to keep the area neat and clean.
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Within 15 days of their deployment, the 52 civic wardens have reported 105 complaints related with unhygienic conditions in the market for immediate redressal. The complaints include vehicles parked illegally in verandahs, damaged grilles, dirty pavements and public toilets and paan-stained walls.
The civic wardens can be identified easily from their cream-coloured jackets with “NDMC Palika Sevak” written on the pockets.
They can be seen asking people not to spit, litter or encroach upon public areas. Two wardens are posted in each block in the inner and middle circles.
A senior NDMC official said a decision was taken to paint the paan-stained pillars and corners after complaints by the civic wardens.
“Working in two shifts (8am to 4pm and 2pm to 8 pm), they not only keep an eye on violators, but also coordinate with the department concerned to fix the problems. They upload the issues on the NDMC 311 app. If the problem is not resolved within two days, then the issue is taken up by enforcement officers,” the NDMC official said.

If the wardens see anyone littering, they ask the violator to pick up the garbage or clean it themselves. In the future, NDMC plans to authorise them to issue on-the-spot challans of up to Rs 50.
Atul Bhargava, president of New Delhi Traders’ Association (NDTA), said the area has become cleaner, but the hawkers continued to pose a major problem. “The area should be made a zero tolerance zone for encroachers. What are we waiting for if Supreme Court has already directed the civic agency to clean the pavements? It will also be appreciated if NDMC staff dedicatedly work for eight hours,” he added.
When TOI visited Connaught Place on Thursday, the civic wardens shared the difficulties being faced by them in upkeep of the area. “Things are not easy. We have arguments every day with people, including hawkers, beggars and visitors, who refuse to accept their fault and blame us for the problems,” said a warden, pointing at paan stains over a newly-painted wall.
A hawker at F-Block claimed that the civic staff are rude at times. “They unnecessarily argue with us and ask to remove garbage that has not been thrown by us,” he said.
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