Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav said that the Delhi High Court observation on the abject condition of public toilets in city is a reflection of public untilities in the capital of the country as it has not yet been declared open defecation-free state.
He said that the terrible state of public toilets exposes the failures of the BJP government and the previous Aam Aadmi Party government in ensuring cleanliness and making the city open defecation-free as PM Modi’s Swatch Bharat Abhiyan has not made any impact in Delhi.
Yadav said that BJP’s “Triple Engine” government is running on the pattern of the previous AAP government, as the Chief Minister, Mayor and Ministers are busy doing politics of photo-ops instead of ensuring adequate civic facilities to the public.
“This was the reason the Delhi High Court expressed displeasure over the functioning of the Delhi Government, Delhi Development Authority and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi over their indifference and insensitivity in the maintenance of public toilets in the capital,” he said.
He said that governments have charged crores of rupees as tax from the public under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for the last 11 years, but the condition of toilets in the capital is pathetic.
Pointing out the areas where public toilets are not in good condition Yadav said that while markets in areas including Chandni Chowk, Paharganj, Nehru Place, Azad Market, Janakpuri, Tilak Nagar, and Rajouri Garden have given to the Delhi government and the Delhi Municipal Corporation crores of rupees in taxes.
“Photos of the terrible condition of toilets of Sangat Rashan Bazar, Grain Market and General Market of Paharganj expose the failure of the concerned agencies,” he said.
Yadav said that the capital is plagued by the accumulation of garbage and dirty condition of toilets without clean water, power and clogging. Yadav said that Prime Minister Modi started the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on 2 October 2014, but even after 11 years, the Abhiyan could not get the country rid of its filth. “When the sanitation system in the capital is in such a terrible state, the sanitation condition in other cities can only be imagined. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission Rural, 11 States with rural zones have declared themselves as open defecation-free, but it is very unfortunate that Delhi is not declared as an open defecation free state despite being the capital of the country,” he said.
