Vasant Vihar Welfare Association is coming out with this rejoinder as it has become relevant in view of a series of misrepresentations that have been recently floated concerning the functioning of VVWA and hence the same is being shared with every resident without any specific malafide intension towards anyone.
Vasant Vihar has been chosen by MCD to be a zero-waste colony. Under the Waste Management rules 2016, MCD is the nodal agency for implementation of the Act in our area. MCD in turn has mandated VVWA to execute the project across the entire Vasant vihar. Under the Solid Waste Management rules 2016 there is a penalty of Rs 5,000 up to Rs 1,00,000 for non compliance.
Before COVID, VVWA collaborated with SSIL for door to door collection of the waste. The monies for the same was collected on behalf of SSIL through an NGO namely Ayushman Sahyog. SSIL then charged Rs 150 per month per household.
Also ITC WOW trained all the garbage collectors on how to do door to door collection and how to segregate the waste as mandated by Law. However, their performance was not up to the mark and this alliance between SSIL and VVWA was hence discontinued and in February 2023 it was decided to bring on board Chintan an NGO which is duly registered by MCD for waste management works.
All the garbage collectors in Vasant Vihar were all reabsorbed in the Chintan team, no one was retrenched, no one was left jobless, they were retrained so that there would be no need to introduce new waste collectors into the homes of the people residing in Vasant Vihar.
Currently residents pay rupees 200 per month from April 2024. This amount is used as an operational cost for the service being provided by Chintan. Chintan is now managing the door to door collection for all residences in A and C block. About 722 residents have signed up for the service from Chintan from block A, C,D and now B and E.
However, SSIL is very much and effectively involved along with MCD for management and removal of Dalhaos in Vasant Vihar and are working closely with VVWA. Chintan is not in any way involved in the management of dalhaos.
Further the management of the dhalaos is vested purely with MCD, who have mandated SSIL with the task of managing them and their cleanliness thereof VVWA plays the role of a coordinator with the MCD local staff and SSIL in this regard.
In a rebuttal to the employment of Marshalls by VVWA, the response is as under:
Concerned with the rising level of encroachments in Vasant Vihar, VVWA approached the High Court of Delhi which passed an order setting up a three person committee consisting of Additional Commissioner of MCD, Inspector from the local police station and the President of VVWA to meet, identify and remove encroachments. To successfully carry out this exercise, there needed to be a level of intelligence gathering.
Marshalls were hired to carry out this exercise; this was started as a pilot project after all necessary approvals as provided in the VVWA articles that followed. The martials employed by VVWA, are the guards to ensure that no untoward activity happens in Vasant Vihar. They have often caught people drinking, gambling, using drugs and miscellaneous activities in past that need not be explicitly detail3d. Residents have reached out to be VVWA on several occasions for assistance in any problem. They have the same powers as the security guard in front of our houses except that they move all over the vulnerable areas of Vasant Vihar and are not stationed at one spot.
They can request unlicensed vendors to move repeatedly so as to create a deterrent in their minds to remain at a place where they are welcome and they can make sure that no illegal activities happen on our internal roads and margs and even remove posters that are put up frequently.
For anyone who does not listen to the repeated request they report to the beat constable. They do not use force or extort money under anyone’s name or touch any vendor or person.
VVWA has engaged a recognised security agency, from where, after proper due diligence and verification the Marshall have been deputed for duty in Vasant Vihar. They are paid a regular salary like any other Guard for the duties from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The job is not to replace the police or the MCD, their job is to dissuade any illegal activity, the job is to report any concern to the beat constable. Their work is evidenced by the photographs and videos which are shared regularly by the VVWA representatives on the respective block groups; they are by no means illegal.
Also we categorically deny and say that no FIR has been filed against VVWA and if it has, then that may be placed in the public domain.
