Delhi: LG VK Saxena chairs meeting to review last-minute G-20 preparedness

New Delhi [India], August 5 : Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Saturday reviewed the progress of different works related to civic infrastructure and the preparedness for the forthcoming G-20 Summit in the Capital.
LG Saxena, who has been consistently on the roads inspecting and monitoring the progress of works, chaired the last meeting in this regard on July 31, 2023.  
The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary, Chairman (NDMC), VC (DDA), MD (DMRC), Pr. Secretary (PWD), Pr. Secretary (E&F), Pr. Secretary (I&FC), Commissioner (MCD) and senior officials of other stakeholder agencies,” the LG said.
 
It came out during the meeting that, since the last meeting when PWD was instructed to take up works in mission mode, pending works had gained pace and targets set by the LG were being met.
"While other works related to the event had been going on as per schedule, major outstanding works included non-disposal of C&D Waste all across the city and the condition of pavements and footpaths on the 61 roads associated with the forthcoming Summit," LG Office stated. 
 
Saxena, who has undertaken 25 visits to different stretches of roads and locations to personally oversee the progress of works in this regard, has laid special thrust on disposal of C&D Waste, removal of encroachments, repair of footpaths and horticultural upgradation/landscaping.
s a result, a visible change has begun to show during the last few days, since he started his visits on July 11, 2023.
 
"Similarly, there has been a mark-off swing in the horticultural / plantation efforts on the part of the DDA, NDMC and MCD and Metro has been relentlessly ensuring cleanliness of its stations and removal of posters and graffiti from its pillars.  Apart from this, impressive wall art has been put in place by agencies on flyovers, poles and pillars, etc. in their jurisdiction.    
PWD & MCD have been told to put in place a contingency plan to deal with cases of waterlogging in case there is heavy rain in the city. Tractor-mounted heavy-duty pumps, suction machines and spray jets, etc. have been asked to be put on standby to address any emergent situation," the LG office further said. 
 
The agencies like PWD, MCD, DDA and NDMC have been instructed to carry out regular monitoring of the stretches from where encroachments/C&D Waste has been removed and to prevent the recurrence of encroachment on such stretches.  As a deterrent, the agencies have been directed to impose hefty penalties on the violators.  
 
Similarly, the issue of defacement of walls, poles, metro pillars and fascia by commercial and political entities by way of putting up posters and graffiti was also proving to be a persistent problem and instructions were issued to the District Monitoring Coordinators to deal with this with a heavy hand and zero tolerance.
 
The issue of revamp around some hotels like Radisson Blue-Mahipalpur, Surya Hotel-New Friends Colony, Eros Hotel-Nehru Place, Hotel Lalit and Hyatt Regency, etc. was also flagged in the meeting and specific instructions were issued to deck up the surroundings of these hotels in a mission mode.
 
Thirty (30) mobile teams of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) will be constantly on the roads till the conclusion of the G-20 events and any violation detected by these teams will be prosecuted on the spot,  LG Office further said.   
 
The District Monitoring Committees comprise a Senior IAS officer, designated as coordinator and respective DMs, DCPs, DCs (MCD)/Secretary NDMC and Chief Engineer (DDA). These Committees were meant to do a gap analysis of shortcomings in their jurisdiction and was empowered to get these gaps addressed with the help of concerned department/agency like PWD, Delhi Metro, E&F, I&FC, DJB, DIAL and DISCOMS, etc.
 
"Sixty-one important roads along with the venue outside ITPO and twenty-three hotels, associated with the forthcoming Summit, spread over seven districts in the capital, are being monitored by the LG for their upkeep, sprucing up and revamp. Of these, 36 roads and 17 hotels are located in the New Delhi District with South-West District having just, two roads and one hotel," LG Office added.
The 7 districts where such projects are located include New Delhi, South East, South, Central, Shahdara, South West and East.
 
In addition to this, the remaining 4 districts – North, West, North West and North East have also identified a few projects of similar nature.