Three civic bodies carry out drives to clear waste in Delhi

NEW DELHI: A day after Diwali, the three municipal corporations carried out special drives on Sunday morning to clean marketplaces and lift garbage from residential areas in multiple shifts. Though the staff turnout was less, the garbage on the streets was in abundance.
A north corporation official said that around 5,500 tonnes of waste was transported to dhalaos till evening. Of this, 5-7% was waste from crackers.
“On average, we collect 4,500-4,600 tonnes of garbage daily from residential areas, streets and markets.However, waste generation is high on Diwali. Even this time, it was around 10% higher than normal. The garbage included waste from crackers and refuse dumped in markets after sales of goods,” said a senior official from North DMC.
With Sunday being another festival, Vishwakarma Puja, just 40-50% staffers came to work. “To fill the gap, we deployed vehicles in multiple shifts to collect waste and sweep roads,” added the official.
East Delhi Municipal Corporation claimed that it had been collecting an increased quantity of waste for the past one week. “Except for Diwali day, when waste collection was 1,000 tonnes, our employees were collecting 3,000 tonnes of waste every day for the past one week due to heavy footfall in markets. In comparison, we collect 2,500-2,600 tonnes of garbage on a normal day,” said an EDMC official, adding that waste generated from bursting crackers was just about two tonnes due to the ban.
A South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) official also gave similar figures for the amount of waste from crackers. “The waste collected on the day after Diwali is transported to dhalaos by the afternoon and taken to landfill sites at night. Though it is difficult to calculate the percentage of waste from crackers right now, the amount won’t be more than two tonnes,” added the official.
“There is no denying the fact that people burst crackers despite the ban, but the overall percentage was less in areas under our jurisdiction,” said the SDMC official. The civic agency collected around 4,000 tonnes of waste during the festivities compared with the average 3,600 tonnes.