BJP, Congress spar over naming of road

With the Delhi Municipal elections due next month, the political slugfest between the BJP and Congress has increased.

On Friday, the Congress severely criticised the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) decision to name an unnamed Public Works Department road connecting Tilak Bridge to Mathura Road after former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, at its standing committee meeting.

“They have not taken permission from the local councilor, before finalising the guest list. A circular approved by the corporation earlier clearly stated that the ward councillor’s approval is necessary in deciding the guest list,” said leader of opposition Farhad Suri, adding, “I will not let the event on March 14.”

Meanwhile, Subhash Arya, leader of the house, said that the ownership of the road still lies with the SDMC and therefore, they are within their right to name/rename it. He refused to comment on the ceremony.

Suri also raised objections over SDMC entertaining the East Corporation’s demand for providing ₹131 crore as loan. workers from 15 wards to other rural areas.

During the meeting, Suri stated that the SDMC decided to withdraw 50-100 sanitation workers from 15 wards and shift them to rural areas in south and west zones, where staff is not sufficient. He said the move is politically motivated, and it is taken to woo the voters ahead of municipal elections.

“We are not against rationalizing of sanitation workers, but why is the decision taken now? And on what basis have they taken the step? They even decided to shift 50 workers from my ward as well, which is unacceptable,” he said.

To this, SDMC mayor Shyam Sharma replied the order was given after taking into consideration the repeated demands of residents facing sanitation problems in rural areas. “But we took back the decision after things started get messy,” he said.

A majority of councillors in SDMC are unhappy with sanitation services in their wards and are demanding a change in yardstick for selection of staff.

The councillors blamed the irrational distribution of safai karamcharis as another reason for deteriorating state of sanitation. For the 104 wards, there are 24,000 workers deployed. Out of them, eight wards have got 500 and above, while rest 20,000 are divided in 96 wards. In comparison, there are wards where only 36 workers are deployed, which is insufficient.