In a move that would enable citizens living in MCD areas to directly connect and interact with more than 57,000 safai karmcharis (rechristened  swachhta/safai sainiks) and 5,000 malis, Lt. Governor V K Saxena on Wednesday launched a unique portal of unified MCD (mcdonline.nic.in).

The new website contains comprehensive information, including phone numbers, about zone, ward, and street/park wise deployment of ‘swachhta /safai sainiks’ and malis (gardeners) by the civic agency. With this first-of-its-kind initiative in Delhi, hapless citizens, who had been running from pillar to post to get their basic sanitation and hygiene-related needs addressed, will now get much-needed relief.

Available in the public domain at the click of a button, these comprehensive lists also contain the details of the supervisory Sanitation Inspector and gardeners. It will enable people to directly contact the concerned Safai Sainik or Gardener, allotted to specific streets and parks to address their sanitation/hygiene and cleanliness needs. It will also ensure efficient delivery of services, transparency, and accountability by empowering the common citizens to not only contact the service provider directly but also reach his/her supervisor in case their complaints are not redressed.

It may be recalled here that the LG, while reviewing the IT initiatives undertaken by the MCD on June 24th had instructed officials to make all their services and regulatory functions IT-enabled by 31st July 2022 and specifically asked for the sanitation and gardening services to be made online with details that empower direct access by citizens and ensure efficient delivery within a week.  More than 57,000 Safai Sainiks have been working in 12 zones of the MCD.

There are nearly 5,000 gardeners and 400 supervisory ‘chowdhrys’ employed with the civic agency. Their main work is to ensure upkeep and maintenance of parks and open gyms, plantation of trees/saplings, maintenance of nurseries etc.

Upon opening the home page on the website, any citizen can click on ‘Select on Service Area’, thereafter go to the tab ‘Portal’. Upon clicking the required zone, the system leads to a menu where the list of deployed safai sainiks and malis can be accessed.