Smart City Dharamsala presents a dirty picture

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 19

Dharamsala — the Smart City — presents a dirty picture. One can see garbage in every nook and corner of the city. Seeing the state of affairs, Mayor Rajni Vyas criticised municipal corporation officials. Sources said it could be one of the reasons behind the transfer of Municipal Commissioner JM Pathania. Pathania, a confidant of Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma, has been replaced by IAS officer Lalit Jain.

The sanitation contract of Dharamsala had come under the scanner as it was allegedly awarded to a Delhi-based firm. The firm failed to meet the conditions laid down in the contract, still no action was taken against it. The firm was to employ 140 persons to look after waste management till January 15, but it failed to do so. Infuriated, people of the town have started sharing the pictures of filthy areas on the social media. If steps are not taken on time, the waste can contaminate potable water.

A social activist, Atul Bhardwaj, said funds were not being used in a proper manner in the corporation. “The situation is worse in ward number 10. Why was the contract awarded to the Delhi firm when Tibetans associated with environmentalists are already handling the waste management,” he said.

The Mayor said she had received a number of complaints. “I have ordered officials to look into the matter and find out why the contract for the firm was not cancelled,” she said.

“We had called the tenders only after proper planning. The contractor was asked to appoint adequate number of people, but he failed to do so. We will call some other contractor, but it will take time.” The sources said the contractor had further outsourced the work to some other person.