Denmark’s Ambassador to India Freddy Svane today took to social media to share a video of a trash-ridden service lane near the Embassy of Denmark in Delhi’s Chanakyapuri and urged the authorities to take necessary action about the cleanliness in the area.
He took to X (formerly Twitter) in the afternoon and wrote on his personal account, “Lovely and green New Delhi. Many words but no action. Saddened by this.” He also tagged the official accounts of the Royal Danish Embassy in India, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s office, and Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena.
Lovely and green New Delhi. Many words but no action. Saddened by this @DenmarkinIndia @CMODelhi @LtGovDelhi pic.twitter.com/ZRH9wutfsm
— daikanyama (@svane_freddy) May 8, 2024
In the clip, Mr Svane is seen in the middle of the lane, pointing to the trash and construction debris that are scattered on both sides of the road. “Welcome to great, green and trashy New Delhi,” he said in the video.
The envoy gestured towards the buildings of the Danish and Greek embassy and added, “Here we have the Danish embassy and we have the Greek embassy over there. This is supposed to be the service lane in between but people are just dumping and doing whatever they like over here.”
“I hope somebody will listen to this and take action, no more nice words just actions my friends,” he said. Towards the end of the video, Mr Svane folded his hands and said, “Dhanyavad (thank you).”
According to news agency ANI, after the ambassador raised concerns, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) cleaned up the area.
#WATCH | After Denmark ambassador Svane Freedy in a video posted on ‘X’ today raised concerns over garbage lying near the Denmark embassy in Delhi, NDMC cleaned up the area pic.twitter.com/OuRcEtzEu2
— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2024
The New Delhi Municipal Council issued a statement and said, “NDMC welcomes feedback from any stakeholder for improving its services. In this regard, the social media message from H. E. Freddy Svane, Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy was promptly acted upon. Which was later acknowledge by the Ambassador himself to the media. Immediate steps have been taken on the plot of land (which is not a service lane) by lifting the dumped material.”
Speaking to ANI, Mr Svane said that he is thankful to the “heroes” of NDMC and he is proud of the quick service. “This is the service lane here, and a few hours ago I put out a video to showcase that it could be a mess. But it takes human action, and the heroes from NDMC listened to the cry about why we should not leave such a beautiful lane full of trash. They took action. Dhanyawad!..This is about pointing at an issue not complaining. I am so proud that NDMC took action within a few minutes…I have lived here for 11 years. We love India…”
