Deadline Tuesday, debris still here

The Commonwealth Games might be hanging over their heads, but even that has not stopped the civic agencies from again pushing the deadline to remove tonnes of construction and demolition waste strewn on the Capital’s streets. As the deadline to remove the malba is set to expire on August
10, the MCD has reasoned that as the deadline for most CWG projects has been extended to August 31, the malba removal deadline should also be extended. The civic agency is carrying out streetscaping work on a number of major roads, beautification work in Paharganj, relaying footpaths and is also installing new streetlights.

"The deadline for most of Games project has been extended to August 31. Hence, it makes sense to extend the deadline to remove the malba to August 31 too. We will take up this matter with the Delhi government. Whatever their decision, we will abide by it. MCD is continuously removing malba from the construction sites and will ensure that it is removed at the earliest," said Deep Mathur, director, press and information.

Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit had set August 10 as the deadline to remove all construction and demolition waste from the city. She had also reiterated that there would be no deviation in the deadlines to halt digging work and to remove the malba.

With barely two days to go for the deadline, Dikshit has said that any decision on the extension will be taken after reviewing the position on August 10. "Let the deadline expire first then I will comment on it after that," said Dikshit.

It seems unlikely that the construction material lying on most roads and footpaths will be removed by the civic agencies on time as barely two days are left for the deadline to expire. Chunks of malba can be seen lying on the city’s main roads even as the civic agencies try to complete the projects on time.

The material dug out has been left to decay on the road causing massive inconvenience to motorists and residents.

In the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area work is still on at Connaught Place, footpaths are being relayed on many sites such as Tolstoy Marg, K.G. Marg, Janpath, streetlight work is being carried out on S.P. Marg, Dr. Zakir Hussain Marg among others.

"Some minor work will remain but we will try to complete all the major roads before August 10," said Anand Tiwari, NDMC spokesman.

With the PWD carrying out signage installation work near Savitri Cinema, the construction material has not been lifted. Area residents say, digging here began only a few days back.

MCD says it is getting malba from other civic agencies including PWD, NDMC, DDA among others at Burari Malba Processing Plant.

"Since the deadline’s announcement, the plant has received 50,000 metric tonne of malba. Of this, more than 50 per cent came from MCD’s construction sites," added Mathur.