New Delhi Feb 23 PTI The South Delhi Municipal Corporation SDMC Wednesday approved a proposal to regularise its daily wage employees such as sanitation workers gardeners beldars who were appointed before 2009 and had been working on the contract basis officials saidThe move comes as the city prepares for civic body polls which are due before MayA notification regarding schedule of the civic election is likely to be announced by the state election commission in the second week of MarchAll the three municipalities are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP while the Aam Aadmi Party AAP is the principal opposition Last civic polls were conducted in April 2017A few days ago the Delhi BJP had announced to regularise daily wage sanitation workers gardeners guards beldars working with municipalities soonThe proposal to regularise daily wagesemployees appointed before or by 2009 was moved by SDMCs leader of the house Indrajeet Sehrawat in the standing committee meeting on Wednesday which was approvedStanding Committee Chairman BK Oberoi said that daily wage employees including sanitation employees beldars played a crucial role in controlling the Covid pandemic but still they are at the constant risk of uncertainty about their jobsSo we have decided to permanently regularise their services and a proposal in this connection has been approved today Wednesday The number of such employees is less as those appointed till 1998 have already been made permanent Oberoi saidHe said that civic officials have been asked to ascertain the number of such daily wages employees so that they can be regularised at the earliest PTI AKM TIR TIR

New Delhi Feb 23 PTI The South Delhi Municipal Corporation SDMC on Wednesday made it mandatory to get a third party insurance akin to that of vehicles for owners and caretakers of horses mares or horse-drawn buggies to be used for ceremonial purposes civic authorities said The decision was approved by the SDMC standing committee on Wednesday following a court order last year The SDMC authorities said three-four years ago a person had died in Civil Lines after being hit by two racing mares while he was crossing the road The matter was then taken to the court to settle the dispute regarding who will bear the expansesSDMC Standing Committee Chairman BK Oberoi said that in Delhi so far there was no provision of taking third party insurance of horses mares or horse buggies being used in ceremonial or other commercial purposes But now taking third party insurance of horses mares and horse buggies has been made mandatory for their owners and operators to get a license for the same The license will be denied by the corporation if this condition is not met Oberoi told PTI Oberoi said the court had ordered the city government and municipal corporations last year to make the condition of third party insurance for compensation to the victim in case of any untoward incidentThe third party insurance will ensure compensation in cases of any untoward incident such as loss of life or property by these animals being used as personal or commercial purposes Oberoi said The proposal passed by the SDMC said A third party insurance for all the horsesmares and horse buggies to be used for ceremonial purpose will be mandatory The department of veterinary services will ensure this condition at the time of new license as well as their subsequent renewals It also said the applicant shall submit an undertaking to keep SDMC harmless and indemnify from all the acts and deeds leading to any accident causing loss of life or injury to any users or otherwise due to the use of any licensed horse buggy horsemare and the licensee shall be liable to pay compensation arising out of such accidents PTI AKM CK

New Delhi Jan 30 PTI The South Delhi Municipal Corporation SDMC has removed the condition of producing acceptance letter from councillors to apply for a license under the Atal Aahar Yojana which aims to provide subsidised food to the poor it said on SundayA proposal in this connection was approved by the SDMCs standing committee on FridayUnder the scheme nearly 40 food kiosks having inbuilt kitchens will be set up to provide food at extremely cheaper prices People will get a thali food plate at a subsidised rate of Rs 15Standing Committee Chairman B K Oberoi said this scheme was first implemented on pilot basis in 2018-19 but was put on hold due to CovidHe said the corporation wants to restart the scheme with certain modifications like allowing anyone to apply for a license unlike earlier when only municipal workers could do soApplicants will no longer have to procure a consent from the local councillor to get a licence under the scheme We have on Friday removed this condition Oberoi saidBreakfast and lunch will be served at prices decided by the municipality Tentative rates for breakfast and lunch are likely to be Rs 10 and Rs 15 Oberoi saidHe said the breakfast menu will consist of puri-sabji and stuffed parathas while for lunch there will be chapattis rice lentils vegetables and curd PTI AKM RHL

New Delhi Jan 28 PTI The South Delhi Municipal Corporation SDMC on Friday asked its officials not to answer questions of the Delhi Assemblys privilege committee as the municipality claimed that it interferes in the day-to-day functioning of the civic body The move is likely to set a stage of confrontation between the Delhi Assembly and the SDMC ahead of municipal polls scheduled later this year A proposal in this connection which was moved by SDMCs Leader of the House Inderjeet Sehrawat was approved by the standing committee of the civic body on Friday Sehrawat said that the privilege committee of the Delhi Assembly had sought answers of several starred and unstarred questions asked during the Assembly session conducted on January 3 and 4 He said that the civic body had provided replies along with documents to all these questions but the privilege committee termed them unsatisfactory and incomplete which he said is a lie By doing these tactics Assembly committees are just harassing the SDMC officials and interfering in the day-to-day functioning of the civic body Many questions are irrelevant and not in the interest of the public Hence a proposal was moved to direct municipal officials not to answer such question which interfere in day-to-day functioning of the SDMC The proposal was passed by the standing committee meeting on Friday Sehrawat told PTI The proposal passed by the SDMC said that most of the information being sought has nothing to do with public interest but they are in the nature of questioning administrative decisions which were taken with due approval of competent authorities under the DMC Act 1957 The information now being solicited is not only voluminous but also does not serve any public interest though it amounts to interfere in day-to-day administrative functioning of the SDMC Sehrawat alleged in the proposal Since informationinquiry solicited by the privilege committee are basically to interfere in day-to-day administrative functioning of Municipal Govt of Delhi Therefore commissioner SDMC and officers working under him be directing refrained from giving such information the proposal stated All the three municipalities North South and East will undergo polls before May this year The poll schedule in this connection is yet to be announced All these three civic bodies are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP while Aam Aadmi Party AAP is the principal opposition there Standing Committee Chairperson BK Oberoi said that the proposal has been passed by the civic body Now as per the proposal the officials have been directed not to answer questions which aim to interfere with the function of the SDMC Oberoi said PTI AKM AAR AAR

New Delhi Jan 27 PTI The South Delhi Municipal Corporation SDMC is likely to table a revised proposal to develop a Bollywood Park through scrap materials in the Jangpura area of the city in its standing committee meeting on Friday officials said on Thursday According to the officials the Bollywood Park will be constructed on the lines of SDMCs popular Waste to Wonder Park and Bharat Darshan Park where the history of Indian cinema will be showcased through various artefacts and sculptures made out of waste material On Thursday the SDMCs house meeting rejected the earlier proposal where project was proposed to be built on the Public Private Partnership PPP mode We will built the Bollywood Park on our own and not on PPP basis So a revised proposal to develop the Bollywood Park is likely to be tabled tomorrow Friday in the civic bodys standing committee meeting SDMC Mayor Mukesh Suryan told PTI An official of the SDMC said the theme park will be built in an old park in Jangpura with an area of five acres The park will depict history and evolution of Indian cinema right from the first film made in the country It will also have scenes of popular movies songs cut-outs of actors etc the official said requesting anonymity All the replicas related to Indian cinema in the park will be made through scrap materials like iron rods nuts and bolts fans wires pipes among others the official said The SDMC had last year inaugurated its Bharat Darshan Park in Punjabi Bagh where replicas of monuments of historical and cultural importance have been erected All those replicas are made of scrap materials PTI AKM AQS AQS

New Delhi Dec 20 PTI The South Delhi Municipal Corporation SDMC on Monday carried out an anti-encroachment drive around the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road area in its central zone and freed nearly nine kilometres of roadsides and footpaths of illegally occupationIn the drive the ESI Hospital to Tehkhand village road stretch D-Block MCD Store to Railway Road Tehkhand village Surj Kund Road MB Road to Lal Kuan and both sides of the Prahladpur Road were freed from encroachment it said in a statementDuring the drive the traffic police seized two vehicles and 15 violators were fined Nearly 80 permanent and temporary structures were dismantled and 45 items were seizedDeputy Commissioner of Central Zone Radha Krishan said in the statement that footpaths are being freed from illegal occupation to facilitate movement of pedestriansHe said such actions will continue in the central zone to make the area clean and encroachment free PTI AKM IJT

New Delhi Aug 24 PTI The South Delhi Municipal Corporation SDMC has issued legal notices to 20 DTC bus depots for allegedly failing to curb mosquito breeding during monsoon the civic body said on Tuesday Municipal officials said the action was taken during a special drive of the SDMCs Public Health Department to detect mosquito breeding and check control measures at Delhi Transport Corporation DTC bus depots located in the municipalitys jurisdiction The department during its drive found mosquito breeding at 23 out of 38 bus depots coming under the jurisdiction of the SDMC Reasons behind mosquito breeding were collection of rain water in scrap items lying unattended tyres flower pots desert coolers etc After detecting mosquito breedings the department initiated legal measures against care takersmanagers of the depot by issuing 20 legal notices and one challan against them the civic body said in a statement Vulnerable bus depots where mosquito breeding was found are DTC cluster bus depot at Sector-2 Sector-22 Sector-C in Dwarka Sukhdev Vihar Khanpur Vasant Vihar Dichaou Kalan among others According to SDMCs Public Health Department officials mosquito breeding increases in the monsoon so the cases of vector-borne diseases may go up According to a report issued by the municipal corporations 82 cases of dengue have been recorded till August 21 this year Officials said that during monsoon rain water gets accumulated at empty patches of land on the roadsides on rooftops of buildings and even in unattended objects giving a congenial atmosphere for breeding of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes known for spreading vector-borne diseases such as dengue malaria and chikungunya The statement further said mosquito breeding was destroyed on the spot where it was detected in bus depots The insecticidal spray was also used by the civic staff Civic officials were directed to coordinate with care takersmanagers of bus depots and organise workshops for taking anti-mosquito measures on the premises the statement read PTI AKM CK