The Municipal Council of Delhi(MCD)has so far removed 1653.73 MT of silt / C&D Waste / malba and the waste removed have been duly deposited on the identified dumping sites where they will be reprocessed for successful bio-remediation, Raj Niwas said on Thursday.
This action came about following Lt Governor(LG)V K Saxena’s directions to road-owning and civic agencies - MCD, PWD and NDMC on September 23 to undertake a Dust-Free Delhi Drive. Despite severe constraints, MCD has been able to remove 1653.73 MT of silt / C&D Waste / malba over September 24 and 25.
With de-silting not having been undertaken for years together, silt and C&D Waste has accumulated in huge quantities estimated at lakhs of tonnes. This has made the task of removing the same comprehensively extremely difficult and challenging, reports submitted by MCD and other agencies to the LG Secretariat, underlined.
The MCD that took up the task of removing the silt / C&D waste in all its 12 zones removed 404.65 MT of such waste on 24.09.2024 and 1249.08 MT on 25.09.2024. The maximum removal took place in the Shahdara South Zone with 122.25 MT and 861.58 MT waste getting removed over the two days. The Keshavpuram Zone was next with 92.80 MT and 69.00 MT of silt being removed on September 24-25 respectively.
Despite a beginning having been made, the task ahead is extremely daunting.
It may be recalled that Saxena, who had in a meeting to review air pollution on September 20, stressed upon preparedness for mitigating it, well in advance. He had asked the MCD, PWD, NDMC, I&FCD and DJB to take up a Dust-free Delhi Drive over the next one week / 10 days and asked for the same to be converted into a year-long campaign.
Pollution caused by road dust is one of the two major contributors to air pollution in Delhi, and with the rains having stopped, dried up mud /silt accumulated on roads is flying high in the environment causing major air pollution.
