'Lifting garbage from govt schools not our duty'

New Delhi: South Delhi Municipal Corporation in its House meeting on Monday made it clear to the directorate of education (DoE) that transporting garbage from school is not a part of its duties. The reply was given on a letter written by DoE to the director of local bodies in October 2015 requesting the three corporations to lift waste from Delhi government schools.
Chairman of the standing committee, Radhey Shyam Sharma said, "If they want an extra service from us, then they will have to pay for it. Our job is to lift garbage from dhalaos." This issue had also been raised in North Corporation a few months ago.
"Door-to-door collection of garbage is not our obligatory duty, not even from residential colonies. Our private concessionaire does door-to-door collection in only two zones - Rohini and Civil Lines. It was decided in a standing committee meeting that garbage will be picked up from the schools using auto-tippers if they pay us. This would be on the same model as garbage pick-up from the doorsteps of bulk generators of waste," said an official.
An official in a west Delhi school said that their school is located on the border and the dhalao is very far. "We request the sanitary inspector to pick up garbage and he obliges once a week," he said. Another official from Ambedkar School said, "The dhalao is right next to our school, so we have no problem transporting it."
In a letter dated February 29, the caretaking branch of DoE had provided a list of 54 Delhi government schools to SDMC and asked it to make arrangements to transport garbage. Leader of the Opposition, Farhad Suri said, "The order of director of local bodies is not binding on us. It is only a facilitator between the civic bodies and the government and can only make suggestions. If the schools are willing to pay, then SDMC may consider lifting garbage from the campuses."