Traditional trolleys told to upgrade to water ATMS

NEW DELHI : To maintain hygiene, water trolleys in many parts of the city will soon be converted into portable water ATMS.

Under its renewed policy for licensed water trolleys, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation will ask vendors to convert conventional water trolleys into water ATMS made of stainless steel with a water dispenser inside.

The policy stresses on using an automatic system for inserting coins and serving water.

“For each glass of water, the vendors can charge R 2 and for one litre R 5. Use of disposable glasses, placement of covered bins to avoid mess, and removing waste before leaving the place are some of the other conditions mentioned in the new policy,” said a North Corporation official.

Making these changes will cost each vendor at least ₹1 lakh. “Vendors will be given two years to make these changes. The required modification will be mandatory for renewal of health trade licences from the financial year 2020-21,” Dr AK Bansal, medical health officer, North Corporation, said.

The health department issued a notice in this regard last week and held meetings with vendors before finalising terms and conditions.

“The vendors can buy water from licensed water plants only and their quality will be checked frequently by the health teams,” the official said.

The decision was taken after councillors raised concerns over the quality of water sold by these trolleys in August. These councillors referred to samples collected by the health department from thousands of water trolleys. Of these samples, 572 failed to meet safety parameters.

The tests had shown the presence Escherichia coli (also known as E.coli,) bacteria, which can cause diarrhoea. Officials said the water tested was found to have an unhealthy proportion of elements such as chlorine.

“After the test reports, we confiscated most of the trolleys and fined the owners. We will continue with such surprise checks in future. The changes will help these vendors increase their sales,” said a senior north corporation official.

In 2017, the north and east corporations had approved a plan to install 200 water ATMS with the help of Delhi Jal Board.