Eros TimesDelhi:EROS TIMES: Addressing a press conference at the Delhi Secretariat on Friday, Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal announced the Mukhyamantri Septic Tank Safai Yojana. Under the scheme, the Delhi Jal Board will deploy 80 trucks, along with trained staff to ensure the cleaning and maintenance of the septic tanks across Delhi.
The scheme will also ensure the safety of sanitation workers and proper septic waste management to prevent contamination of river Yamuna.
Around 45 lakh citizens in the authorized and unauthorized colonies of the capital live in areas that do not have sewer pipelines and depend on septic tanks. The Chief Minister said, “Whereas the process to install sewage pipelines across all the unauthorized colonies is going on, it is important to ensure the cleanliness of the septic tanks through safe means.”
The Chief Minister announced the Mukhyamantri Septic Tank Safai Yojana to fulfill the three-fold objective of collecting the waste from the septic tanks from the colonies, ensuring safe disposal of the waste in the Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) of the government, and deploy trained staff with all the safety equipment for the work of septic tank cleaning.
The Chief Minister said, “The Delhi Jal Board has taken a very significant decision for the residents of the unauthorized colonies in Delhi. There are many places in Delhi, where there are no provisions of sewage management. On one hand, the Delhi Jal Board is installing sewer pipelines everywhere and many colonies in Delhi have gotten sewer pipelines in the last few years.
However, the residents of the colonies that do not have sewer pipelines are using septic tanks. We often hear about unfortunate incidents involving sanitation workers who are deployed for the cleaning of septic tanks.
The private agencies involved in the maintenance and cleaning of the tanks do not have a valid license to do so.
They carry out such activities in an unauthorized and illegal manner and do not provide any safety equipment to the workers and put their lives at risk.
The waste collected from the septic tanks is often disposed into the drains across the city, causing groundwater contamination and water pollution. To tackle such issues, we have initiated the Mukhyamantri Septic Tank Safai Yojana.”
*80 trucks to be deployed in Delhi to ensure safe septage management*
Under this scheme, the Delhi Jal Board and the Delhi government will undertake the task of cleaning all the septic tanks across the capital free of cost. “We will try to pass the tenders of the same within the next month.
Around 80 trucks will be procured by the Delhi Jal Board. The residents of the colonies can call on a phone number provided by the Delhi government for the cleaning of the septic tanks. A truck will be sent to the location and the waste collected from the tanks will be delivered to the Sewage Treatment Plants of the Delhi government. The residents of the capital can procure such free of cost services in a legal and authorized manner.
This is a huge step in the direction of ensuring the cleanliness and safety of Delhi. The waste collected from all over the city is often disposed of in the Yamuna, leading to severe pollution of the river. The scheme will also put an end to the deaths caused by manual scavenging,” said the Chief Minister.
“The Delhi Jal Board will ensure the cleaning and maintenance of all the septic tanks. We do not hear about unfortunate incidents about sanitation workers who are deployed for the cleaning of manholes across the city, as they are provided with all the necessary safety equipment.
The workers deployed for the cleaning of septic tanks will be provided safety equipment in the same manner to ensure their safety and security,” he added.
Nikhil Kumar, CEO of Delhi Jal Board, was also present at the press conference. “There are 1797 unauthorized colonies in Delhi, out of which 430 colonies have sewer pipelines.
The work for installing sewer pipelines in the other 400 colonies is in progress.
The rest of the colonies are equipped with septic tanks and the work for installing the sewer pipelines is still in progress.
The Mukhyamantri Septic Tank Safai Yojana has been initiated to ensure the maintenance and cleaning of the septic tanks,” he said.
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