PUDA undertakes beautification of city’s ‘eyesore’

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 4

The Punjab Urban Development Authority is beautifying the “eyesore”, which 2,400 square yards of land at a prime location in the city has virtually turned into.

The boundary wall of the piece of land, located at Gol Diggi, has been mended and a part of it is also being covered with interlocking tiles.

Despite being at the heart of the marketplace, the land had been used by the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda, as a secondary garbage dumping and collection point for the past several years, and that too without any official permission.

Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said, “It is a prime land and belongs to PUDA. The MCB has been using it as secondary dumping and collection point. After door-to-door collection of garbage by JITF workers from several adjoining areas, garbage is dumped here and is later collected from here to be taken to the garbage dumping site on the Bathinda-Mansa road.”

Municipal Commissioner Sanyam Aggarwal, who also has the additional charge of PUDA administrator, said, “The land has not been given to the MCB officially to be utilised as garbage collection point. It is being used by the MCB as it was lying vacant. In future, in case PUDA mulls developing some project here, there is a possibility that a part of it may be given to the MCB to continue using it as garbage collection point.”

He said since it had become the secondary collection point for half of the city, it was not feasible to suddenly stop the MCB from using the land.

“Since it was turning into an eyesore, PUDA is spending close to Rs 3 lakh to repair the boundary wall around it and also cover a small part of it with interlocking tiles to make it look a little better,” he said. For years, the land was also being used by the JITF company to park its garbage lifting vehicles, including those which had broken down and needed repair and maintenance.