Carry your filth or live with it: No MCD vans for 20 days, Sangam Vihar locals haul garbage themselves; civic body promises another fix

NEW DELHI: Many residents of Sangam Vihar in south Delhi hire autorickshaws and ferry their garbage to a spot near Batra Hospital on Mehrauli-Badarpur Road. One of them, Sanjay Kashyap, said, “I loaded five huge bags of garbage from my lane and came here to dump them.

It has become our job to collect waste because the municipal vans haven’t come for over 20 days.”The locals report that overflowing bins, garbage strewn all over and mounting health concerns have become a part of daily life. The absence of designated waste collection points and the narrow streets compound the problem, with road users find it increasingly difficult to travel on the lanes.MB Road, particularly near Batra Hospital, is now referred to by locals as ‘the garbage road’, given the passage’s reduced usable width due to the trash dumped there.

There’s a pungent smell from the rotting garbage. Friends Dimpy and Shabnam recounted, “Two days ago, when it rained, garbage was swept into our colony road.”

In March 2024, lieutenant governor VK Saxena had posted photos on X depicting the poor civic conditions in Sangam Vihar. Despite the change in govt, residents grumbled their plight hasn’t been addressed.Municipal officials claimed that the area fell in the central zone where other localities too had faced sanitation setbacks after the garbage collector’s contract lapsed recently. An MCD official explained that a new agency had now been appointed for a six-month period to handle waste management. “The agency covers two-thirds of the zone and there are plans to extend coverage to the remaining areas soon,” he said.

“To resolve the issue, we have planned a zonal inspection on Monday.”