The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors on Thursday dumped garbage outside the office of BJP’s MCD Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh, slamming the BJP for completely failing to manage Delhi’s sanitation system. The AAP delegation had gone to seek answers over the worsening state of cleanliness in the Central Zone and across the capital—but found the Mayor missing from his office. Left with no choice, the councillors launched a fierce demonstration, chanting slogans and dumping trash at the entrance.
Senior AAP leader and MCD LoP, Ankush Narang, said every street and lane in Central Zone is buried under mounds of garbage, while the BJP remains preoccupied with power politics and absent from ground realities. “The condition of the Central Zone is appalling. Garbage is scattered on every road, in every lane. Citizens are suffering, but the BJP is only busy with politics and has completely failed to act on the ground. AAP will continue to raise the voice of Delhiites until this crisis is resolved,” he said.
Ankush Narang also revealed that although the Mayor is officially available to meet the public every Monday and Thursday between 2–4 PM, when AAP councillors visited his office at 2:15 PM on Thursday to protest and stayed until 3 PM, the Mayor was nowhere to be found. “Instead of addressing Delhi’s sanitation crisis, Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh was partying in Manesar, Gurgaon, while the Civic Centre was open and fully staffed. This is shameful,” said Ankush Narang.
Ankush Narang added that it has been a full month since AAP submitted a memorandum on June 4 regarding the Central Zone’s garbage crisis, yet no action has been taken. “In that memorandum, I had mentioned letters received from councillors Sarika Chaudhary, Rakesh Lohia, Pankaj Gupta, Kusum, and Hema, who all flagged the same issue — garbage piling up across the Central Zone. There has been no sanitation agency appointed for two years now. Where there used to be 10 garbage tipper vehicles, only two are operational; where there were 15, now only three are functional,” he said.
He criticised the BJP’s hollow claims of a “mega cleanliness campaign,” pointing out that the reality on the ground is the exact opposite. “Despite running a four-engine government, BJP and Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh have completely failed to manage Delhi’s garbage problem. As monsoon begins, the crisis will only worsen, posing grave health risks including malaria, dengue, and chikungunya,” Ankush Narang warned.
Highlighting the BJP’s misplaced priorities, Ankush Narang noted that when he raised this issue in the House, the Mayor responded by saying it would be taken up in the Standing Committee. “But when the Standing Committee met, neither sanitation agencies, nor the Central Zone’s issues were on the agenda. Instead, the BJP brought proposals favouring private housing companies like Asteroid Private Home Shelters Ltd. If this urgency had been shown for sanitation, Central Zone residents wouldn’t be living amidst disease and stench today,” he said.
Ankush Narang demanded the immediate resignation of Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh. “He has no right to occupy this post. A councillor’s core duty is to ensure cleanliness in their ward, and he has utterly failed. Now garbage heaps are growing in South, West, and Civil Lines Zones — even in the Mayor’s own Majlis Park ward. If the Mayor cannot manage garbage, why did the BJP come to power in Delhi with grand promises? The truth is — BJP’s four-engine government has completely failed. They cannot lift garbage, and they cannot manage the city,” he concluded.
