Satyendar Jain blames civic bodies for poor sanitation

Delhi Public Works Department minister Satyendar Jain on Monday blamed the civic bodies for poor sanitation conditions of Delhi saying that the BJP-run municipal corporations have “miserably failed” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan. Mr Jain added that the three municipal corporations do nothing “except harassing people” and “making money” through corruption.

“The three MCDs, which are controlled by the BJP, have miserably failed Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan and have shown a mirror to the BJP, apart from severely hurting the image of the nation,” he said. Mr Jain’s remarks come after his meeting with lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung on Monday on the cleanliness issue.

“The sanitation condition of Delhi is very bad and Delhi is burdened with garbage. Both the L-G and I are worried about the state of affairs,” Mr Jain said after the meeting. He said that in the wake of a serious spike in the number of vector-borne diseases in the city, the L-G had ordered the MCDs to focus on cleanliness for at least one month. “The L-G has also directed them to clean ‘dhalaos’ twice a day, which the MCDs, so far, claim to clean every day,” Mr Jain said.

“Have the MCDs done any work except making money They just take bribes and do nothing else. If you make a list of things done by the MCDs, you will realise that they only harass people and make money from them,” he said. Last week, the Aam Aadmi Party had launched “Spot the Kachra (garbage)” social media campaign to put pressure on the MCDs on the sanitation issue.

He also said that punitive action would be taken against those who have underreported dengue cases from 2013-15 in the national capital. The minister was reacting to a media report which stated that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found the national capital has been hugely under-reporting dengue cases and deaths.