MCD and railways join hands to pick up garbage along tracks

New Delhi: Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which has begun to roll out three-year tenders for weekly cleaning of railway tracks, will set up designated garbage collection points on railway land in coordination with Indian Railways across the city to remove large amounts of legacy waste lying along the railway corridors.A senior MCD official said that to institutionalise the cleaning process, three-year tenders are being issued across all districts and zones. Tenders have already been finalised in four zones, while the remaining zones are in the process of issuing them, officials said. "MCD will work closely with the railways to identify locations along railway tracks where garbage can be collected at designated points before being lifted by the civic body. Such collection points will help streamline the removal process and prevent waste from accumulating along the railway corridors," the official added.MCD will also introduce a community partnership model for the first time, under which councillors will play an active role in ensuring that residents do not dump construction and demolition debris or other waste along the tracks.The councillors will also be part of public awareness drives on environmental and health risks of dumping waste on railway land to sensitise residents of the colonies located adjacent to the tracks. Collection points will be decided after consultations with residents, councillors and the railways.Officials said that while the drive was already underway, MCD was strengthening the exercise by setting a 10-day target to remove nearly 10,000 tonnes of garbage from stations and tracks.According to officials, Indian Railways operates around 123km of railway tracks in Delhi, with many stretches along slums and JJ colonies. Due to the absence of designated disposal points and regular monitoring, these areas often turned into dumping sites for household waste and construction debris.As per approximate estimates, over 15,000 metric tonnes of waste were lying in these areas, out of which around 5,000MT have been cleared in recent weeks. MCD has deployed 145 vehicles, including trucks, auto-tippers, Hyvas and JCB machines, along with around 800 sanitation workers.