The Mayor of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Dr Shelly Oberoi inspected various schools, hospitals, parks and community centres on Monday. The Mayor visited Ward No 55 Shalimar Bagh-A and Ward 66 Wazirpur along with the local councillors, DC and concerned officials of the civic agency. The Mayor noted with deep concern that no work has been done in MCD for a long time. She said that she plans to resolve this now by bringing the Kejriwal Model of governance to MCD. She also emphasised her concern at the absence of principals, guards, aayas, housekeeping staff and administrative workers in schools. During the inspection, Dr Shelly Oberoi stated, now work will be done to transform MCD’s school, hospital, park, road, garbage management system on a mission mode. The 10 guarantees given by the Aam Aadmi Party will be fulfilled as soon as possible.”
The Mayor first inspected a park in Shalimar Bagh-A’s Haiderpur Village along with councillors Shri Jalaj Chaudhary. She raised her concerns about the park’s maintenance and upkeep and met with the horticulture officers present at the site. She enquired about the availability of the staff and directed the officers to immediately resolve issues like broken railings, cleanliness and security. After that, Dr Oberoi visited three schools of the ward. She noticed an absence of administrative staffers and security guards at the schools. She instructed the officers to arrange guards in schools and strengthen the infrastructure. The Mayor also expressed her anger over the fact that principals were absent in some schools and in many cases students were being made to sit on the floor. Apart from this, she took information about the quality of mid-day meals provided to the children in the school.
Later, Dr Oberoi visited the MCD Ayurvedic Hospital located in Haiderpur Village. The hospital was completely dilapidated with some parts in fatal condition. She was apprised that there is a shortage of medicines in the hospital. The Mayor also interacted with the patients and took stock of the treatment being provided to them. As per the locals the hospital used to be a very crucial facility at one point and is now a complete disaster that needs to be fixed immediately. The Mayor ordered the officers to fix all the loopholes and work on the infrastructure.
After this, Mayor Dr. Shelly Oberoi reached Ward-66 Wazirpur. She inspected the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Park along with MLA Shri Rajesh Gupta and Councillor Smt Chitra Vidyarti. After this, she inspected the Excellence School Nimri Colony, MCP School JJ Colony Wazirpur, Primary School JJ Colony Wazirpur. She learnt during the inspection of Primary School JJ Colony that a part of it was lying closed for a long time. That building was built in 1972. Finally Mayor Dr Shelly Oberoi inspected JJ Colony’s Community Centre, which was completely broken. There the DC told that due to paucity of funds the new one could not be built even though permission has been given to make it.
After the inspection, Dr Oberoi stated, “We conducted an inspection of Ward 55 and 66, and also took a round inspecting the MCD Schools, Community Centre, Parks and Hospitals. As of today, the situation in MCD schools is deplorable. Some schools we went to lacked a Principal, some schools lacked guards, some lacked chairs, and we found there was a lack of amenities and services that are required in schools for providing safety and security to our kids, which is our biggest concern.”
She added that the MCD has taken into account the failings of the MCD system here and have listened to the feedback, complaints, and suggestions of the local citizens. In the near future, MCD will be improving the conditions of its schools, hospital, and parks, as well as providing improvements in roads, sanitation, and public toilets. “We wish to improve these civic amenities, which were lacking, sometimes for years, so that we can give the people a better Delhi,” she said.
The Mayor replied that in various wards of Delhi, FCTS and compactors have been installed already. The MCD is actively working to achieve the target of making the city ‘dhalao’ free. If in any area of Delhi, any resident is facing an issue with dhalaos, then the same shall be converted, perhaps into any public facility.
With respect to parks, the mayor acknowledged that the people of Delhi have demanded more lights and benches, along with the boundary railing. Some parks also do not have sufficient plants and grass. The MCD has noted these issues as part of the beautification agenda and plans to work on these as well.
The mayor noted that just as much as there are challenges, the scope of work at the MCD is also very large. The people of Delhi have been deprived of these amenities for many years. While facing all challenges, we plan to run the MCD smoothly.
As for MCD schools, the mayor pointed out the main issue of child safety within school premises. If there is no guard to lock up the school, it would be irresponsible as anyone could walk in and endanger the children. This is particularly critical for girls’ schools. Moreover, the need to work on the student teacher ratio and availability of furniture at these schools was also flagged.
