NEW DELHI: Poor air quality of the capital is one of the buzzing issues in this year’s civic polls. However, data reflected that for political parties this is not more than an issue to garner votes.
As per data collected by the Praja Foundation, councillors raised only 78 questions in last four years (2017-2021) in the MCD House.
The BJP, which had 182 councillors in the MCD, raised 58 deliberations related to pollution in the MCD sessions, while Congress councillors raised 15 and AAP councillors raised merely five deliberations regarding pollution and the environment.
Solid waste management (SWM) was the highest discussed issue in MCD sessions in the last four years. As per the report, BJP councillors made 6,466 deliberations on SWM, while AAP and Congress made 1,685 and 1,006 deliberations.
‘Delhi’s party-wise manifesto (2017-22) analysis and targets to set for 2022-2027’ released by the foundation, more than 70,000 complaints related to stray dog and monkey menace were received by the civic authorities in four years. However, only 827 questions on welfare of strays were raised by the BJP. The number was much lower among AAP and Congress.
The report also analysed the promises made by parties in the last civic polls and their fulfilment. Public toilets figured as common plank in all manifestos. Despite this, 16 per cent of public toilets in Delhi did not have water connection, the report revealed.
Coming to education, enrollment in MCD schools fell by 19 per cent in the last five years (from 2014-2015 to 2018-2019). The report further suggested that MCD schools show a relatively high dropout rate as compared to state schools. Around 27 per cent of parents are dissatisfied with education provided at MCD schools.
Besides, in schools run under the MCD, the pupil-teacher ratio is higher than the required norm: 39 in NDMC, 32 in SDMC, and 38 in EDMC in (for the year 2018-19), said the report.
