The Municipal Corporation of Delhi Standing Committee has approved a Rs 923.57-crore project to deploy 70 mechanical road sweeping machines across the capital for 10 years, in a major municipal effort to curb dust pollution. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by committee chairperson Satya Sharma on Friday, according to Millennium Post.
Under the project, smaller sweeping machines will operate on electricity, while larger machines will have the option of using electricity or compressed natural gas. The agencies selected for the contract will be responsible not only for supplying the machines but also for their operation and maintenance throughout the 10-year period.
The project has been divided into three packages. Lion Services Limited has been awarded a package covering 29 machines at a cost of Rs 369.53 crore. The GA Infra-VN Engineering consortium will operate 28 machines under a Rs 368.83-crore package, while JS Enviro Services Private Limited has received the third package for 13 machines at Rs 185.20 crore.
The approval places road sweeping within a long-term contract structure rather than treating it as a short-term seasonal intervention. The supplied report does not specify the roads or zones where the machines will initially be deployed, nor does it provide a start date for operations. The contract duration and the use of electric and CNG equipment indicate that the civic body intends to combine mechanised cleaning with lower-emission vehicle options, although the committee has not disclosed projected pollution reductions.
The Standing Committee also approved the introduction of a barrier-free toll collection system at 126 entry points into Delhi. The existing RFID-based system will be upgraded to Multi-Lane Free Flow technology, using Radio Frequency Identification and Automatic Number Plate Recognition to collect road tax and Environment Compensation Charge from commercial vehicles without requiring them to stop at barriers.
That project will run for six years, including six months for implementation. The decision is intended to shift toll and environmental-charge collection away from physical barriers and towards automated identification of vehicles entering the city. The report does not specify the implementation schedule for individual entry points or the charges that will be collected under the upgraded system.
The committee further directed officials to begin recruitment for 1,066 vacant posts in the MCD’s Public Health Department. The vacancies include 14 Anti-Malaria Officers, 105 Malaria Inspectors, 398 Assistant Malaria Inspectors and 549 multi-tasking staff positions.
Sharma directed officials to begin the recruitment process immediately and said contractual appointments could be considered if regular recruitment takes longer. She also asked zonal deputy commissioners to conduct surprise inspections and address councillors’ grievances at the zonal level.
In another direction, the committee asked officials to ensure that at least one park in every ward is equipped with a rainwater harvesting system. The supplied report does not state how many parks currently have such systems or provide a deadline for completing the installations.
