Garbage mess likely for several city areas

Parts of the national capital are staring at a garbage crisis from November, when the contract of a private concessionaire tasked with collecting waste from neighbourhoods in central, south and southeast Delhi runs out, said Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials aware of the matter, adding that it is unlikely another agency will be hired in two months.

- Paras Singh

The concessionaire, said the officials cited above, picked up garbage from MCD's Central Zone, which includes Daryaganj, Kalkaji, Sarita Vihar, Siddharth Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, Andrewsganj, and Amar Colony, among others.

The MCD's jurisdiction comprises 12 zones and 250 wards, which cumulatively produce around 11,000 tonnes of garbage every day. The central zone, with 25 wards, produces around 1,000 tonnes of waste every day.

With key committees still to be formed, Delhi's civic agency has not been able to depute a new agency to pick up garbage in the Central Zone, said officials.

A senior MCD official associated with the sanitation department said the existing contractor for the central zone was granted several extensions in the past, but legally, there is no scope for the contract to be extended further. He said a new concessionaire cannot be appointed without the approval of the standing committee. The MCD elections were held in December 2022, but months on, the 18-member standing committee is still not in place.

"From November onwards, the garbage lifting and transportation will be stopped completely by the existing operator.