Total collapse of civic infra this monsoon: LG to CS

New Delhi : Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to submit a monthly report on the inspections conducted by senior officers in the aftermath of deaths due to “complete collapse of civic infrastructure” this monsoon, officials said on Monday.

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 inspection report to all departments and submit a monthly report on 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 head of departments (HOD), secretaries, principal secretaries, or asditional 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 invokes. 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 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 kind 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.