New Delhi: Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has issued a series of directions to step up pollution-control measures from Nov 1, including extending the working hours of road-sweeping machines, fixing departmental responsibilities and making four-hour daily inspections by zonal deputy commissioners mandatory. The civic body will also deploy an additional task force (2000 workers on contract) across all 12 zones to improve cleanliness and check pollution sources.In its first order, MCD said all 66 mechanical road sweepers (MRS) deployed on roads wider than 60 ft would operate at night, with their shifts extended by four hours from the normal eight hours until Feb 28, 2027. The move, ordered by MCD commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar, is aimed at improving cleaning coverage and avoiding daytime traffic congestion.“So far, these machines were operating during the day, leading to traffic congestion and inconvenience. With vehicles parked along roads, cleaning also becomes difficult. People have repeatedly raised the issue. The machines started working in day time during tenure of former commissioner Gyanesh Bharti after councillors complained these are not visible on roads,” said officials.Currently, each machine covers around 25-30 km daily, but the fleet is unable to adequately cover even the 1,400 km of roads wider than 60 ft within a two-day cycle. The Ring Road is among the stretches where councillors have flagged inadequate cleaning.To address the gap, MCD plans to deploy 70 additional sweepers with a minimum daily coverage target of 40 km each. Officials said the new machines would have improved capacity and would also cover roads measuring 30-60 ft wide. The civic body estimates that the combined fleet will need to cover around 9,000-9,800 km daily to meet its requirements.“While the contract for the existing 66 machines allowed coverage of 30 km per day, we realised that cleaning four-lane roads with central verges was a challenge. We also have to cover roads less than 60 ft wide, measuring around 1,700 km. Accordingly, new machines are being procured from Italy and Switzerland. The first fleet will be airlifted and deployed by mid-November,” an official said.
