Delhi MCD shifts 66 road sweepers to nights, plans 2,000 workers

Delhi’s 66 mechanical road sweepers will shift to night operations from November 1 as the MCD steps up winter pollution-control work.

The machines, deployed on roads wider than 60 feet, will have their usual eight-hour shifts extended by four hours until February 28, 2027. The MCD said the overnight schedule should reduce daytime traffic disruption and make cleaning easier on roads where parked vehicles often block access.

Each sweeper currently covers about 25-30 km a day, but the fleet has not been able to clean Delhi’s roughly 1,400 km of roads wider than 60 feet within a two-day cycle. Councillors have flagged inadequate cleaning on stretches including Ring Road.

The civic body plans to add 70 machines, each expected to cover at least 40 km daily, including roads between 30 and 60 feet wide. It has also ordered zonal deputy commissioners to conduct four-hour daily inspections and plans to deploy 2,000 contract workers across all 12 zones to check cleanliness and pollution sources. The first batch of new machines is expected by mid-November.