Total collapse of civic infra this monsoon, submit monthly report on inspections: Delhi LG to chief secy

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to submit a monthly report on the inspection of facilities conducted by senior officers in the aftermath of deaths due to "complete collapse of civic infrastructure" this monsoon, officials said on Monday.

Hitting out at the LG, the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that he is repeating the things "which have been said dozens of times by the elected government".

"If LG has accepted that sewers were not desilted, why is there no action against officers of DJB who did not do their duty," the party said.

In a written communication to the chief secretary, Ashish Kundra, the Principal Secretary to Saxena, said the LG has advised that an "institutionalised mechanism be put in place for scheduled inspections" by senior officers of facilities under their charge.

"It would help them obtain a first-hand feel of the core problems being faced by citizens and take corrective policy or regulatory measures. The chief secretary shall circulate a uniform format of the inspection report to all departments and submit a monthly report on the number of inspections done by each officer," read the letter.

Kundra also pointed out that even the Delhi High Court has taken a serious note in the matter of desilting of drains in the national capital and has made "stinging observations".

"The LG has observed that this monsoon has seen the complete collapse of civic infrastructure, leading to unfortunate and avoidable deaths of citizens. The underlying problems are symptomatic of endemic neglect," he said in the letter.

"Drains have not been desilted for years, sewer lines are choked leading to flooding even in planned colonies," he added.

According to LG Saxena, all of this points to a "complete absence of senior management oversight" in the city, Kundra's letter said.

Sharing the LG's directions on the issue, Kundra said all heads of departments (HOD), secretaries, principal secretaries, or additional chief secretaries need to "draw up a schedule of field inspections" and ensure that all assets or areas are inspected thoroughly.

"The inspection note of the principal secretary or secretary of the department shall be submitted to the chief secretary with a copy endorsed to the LG Secretariat and the minister-in-charge," he said.

According to Saxena's directions, the inspection note should summarise the core problem observed with the corrective measures invoked. The report should be annexed with geo-tagged pictures of before and after the intervention.

The communication to Kumar also fixed the frequency of inspections to be conducted by secretaries of the department concerned on a fortnightly basis while the HODs have to do them on a weekly basis.

The principal secretaries have also been advised to conduct inspections every fortnight.

The officers have also been directed to review the institutional mechanisms prescribed under various central and state acts and ensure that these are fully functional, the letter read.

"Formulation of any rules, authorities, boards under these laws should be taken up within three weeks," it added.

The LG also insisted that there should be a robust mechanism of field-level inspections at the district level under the district magistrates (DM).

The inspection notes need to be submitted to the divisional commissioner who shall then send a consolidated note to the chief secretary, Kundra said.

"District magistrates, SDMs and ADMS shall undertake inspection twice a week in areas of public delivery services, focusing on road infrastructure, drains, sewage management, education, transport, etc.

"The executive engineer, deputy directors, and other related officers shall invariably accompany the district magistrate during the inspections. The inspections should cover all kinds of settlements such as rural, urban, planned areas, JJ colonies, unauthorised colonies, etc," the letter read.

The DMs have also been asked to interact with the resident welfare associations in their jurisdictions once a month to find out the issues faced by local people and resolve them.

Reacting to the development, AAP said the urban development minister had directed CS Naresh Kumar to submit the timelines for the desilting of drains by various agencies like MCD, PWD, DDA, I&FC, NDMC etc.

"But instead of ensuring desilting, the CS was busy making excuses for not submitting the timelines. Despite multiple directions to CS to do a third-party audit of desilting work by agencies, the third-party audit did not happen," claimed the AAP.

The LG has as yet not taken any action against the CS or any of the HODs who failed in their duties, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party charged.

"This note by LG is of no consequence because the Monsoons are almost over. If LG was really serious about desilting, he should have taken action against the officers.

"Now when LG has accepted that desilting was not done and tenders worth crores did not bear any result due to corruption, why has the LG not taken any action against any of the HODs? " it said. PTI SLB RT RT