Allocation increased for sanitation and infrastructure projects

New Delhi: The sanitation sector received significant attention in the MCD budget presented Thursday, with 29% of the total allocations directed towards enhancing waste collection and municipal waste processing systems. In the 2024-25 budget, the allocation was 25.1%. The allocation for public works and streetlight maintenance too increased from 11.6% to 17%. However, the allocation for education decreased this time — 9.9% compared to 18.6% last year. There was a decline in the horticulture sector allocation too, from 3.5% to 2.3%. Outlining several initiatives planned to improve sanitation services, MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar said the civic body is concentrating on acquiring advanced equipment, including 14 mechanical road sweepers and four super-sucker units for desilting drains, as well as setting up 10 more compacting stations. "We also plan to establish 12 sanitation vehicles, equipped with squads, for improved monitoring. They will conduct random checks, issue challans to defaulters, supervise garbage-collecting vehicles and waste processing, and spread awareness among residents for segregation and cleanliness," said Kumar. The Taimoor Nagar and Sangam Vihar-Mehrauli-Badarpur drains will be renovated as part of the project. "We have allocated a budget of Rs 3.4 crore for the Taimoor Nagar drain and Rs 11.9 crore for the Mehrauli Badarpur and Sangam Vihar outfall drain, where flooding leads to major waterlogging in the area," said an official. The official further said Phase II of the project for biomining of 80 lakh MT waste at three landfills is already underway while four plants are in place for processing of construction waste. "A fifth plant is proposed at Tehkhand. Work is also in progress for the establishment of two biogas plants and three bio-CNG plants. These will become operational by June 2025 and Dec 2026, respectively," he said. Kumar put forth various proposals to enhance public services. These included linking birth certificates with Aadhaar, implementing a unified policy for the e-bike and e-bicycle system, setting up 262 new e-charging stations, a new system for assessing students' performances at primary schools, and vaccination of one lakh stray dogs. MCD's engineering wing, meanwhile, will undertake several development projects worth Rs 522 crore under Gramoday Abhiyan in villages, especially in Rawta and Daurala, which have been declared "model villages". While the schedule of taxes was cleared by the House, the process for approving the schedule of posts and other proposals is pending and will be finalised by March-end.