NEW DELHI: The AAP government’s Swachh Delhi App, which was recently launched by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, received 6,400 uploads till Friday afternoon. However, most of the photographs were from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.
Officers monitoring the app admitted that people are uploading irrelevant pictures of empty bottles, cups and glasses. Some have uploaded pictures of cow dung cakes. The app has also received hundreds of selfies.
When anyone downloads the app on their phones and uploads pictures, their realtime locations are shown in a backroom database.
The app has received around 700 uploads from Uttar Pradesh. A Delhi government officer said that a mechanism is being devised to ensure that only one picture of a particular place is processed. “Many people have sent us several pictures of a single spot,” he said.
People uploading photographs of garbage and concrete waste can also send follow-up messages if they are unsatisfied with the work. The app can be downloaded by giving a missed call on 7666400400, following which they will receive an SMS with the link to install app. It can also be downloaded from Google PlayStore.
When users send pictures, they are forwarded to municipal corporations and Public Works Department for cleaning the garbage. The officer admitted that there is no mechanism to verify whether the complaints have been resolved.
This is the first time when the Delhi government and the BJP-led municipal corporations have come together to clean Delhi. On the lines of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Kejriwal had announced that his government will be launching a special cleanliness drive from November 22 to November 30 in the national capital. Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs Venkaiah Naidu and Kejriwal will inaugurate the Swachh Delhi Abhiyan on November 22.
While launching the application Kejriwal had said, “Wherever you come across debris, click pictures and send it to us via the app and we will ensure that the garbage is cleared within a week. We will ensure a debris and garbage free Delhi.”
The temporary sanitation workers associated with municipal corporations have made it clear that they won’t work overtime. However, the corporations, which are on a warpath with the AAP government over funds, have promised to support the cleanliness drive. Even then, cleaning Delhi remains a big challenge for Kejriwal’s government.