500 challans, Rs 4.5 lakh fine, yet few takers for Swachh Sarvekshan

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 19

Despite issuing over 500 challans of Rs 4.5 lakh, there seems to be no respite for the Municipal Corporation of Jalandhar (MCJ) which is set to face the litmus test of the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) under its Swachh Sarvekshan to be held later this month.

While the MC officials have claimed that they are making strenuous efforts to carry out awareness programmes in various parks and market areas, the public has refused to adhere to the cleanliness drive launched a few days ago in the city.

According to Dr Srikrishan, MC health officer, people are not cooperating. “We went to the Dilkushan market and asked the shopkeepers to prevent the use of polythene bags. They closed the market in protest against us. This caused a lot of harassment to the general public,” said Dr Srikrishan.

Also, the MC officials faced a lot of protests when they visited a filling station near the bus stand and urged its owner to install a board of “public convenience” outside his toilet. Initially, the owner refused to allow the toilet to be used for general public, but later agreed to do so after much persuasion.

While the Municipal Corporation of Jalandhar attained the 28th position in the Swachh Sarvekshan held in over 73 cities across the country in 2016, the position dipped to 233 among the 434 cities that were surveyed in 2017.

The MCJ is also getting no support from the newly elected councilors, as the new general house is yet to get constituted. While it’s been two months since the new delimitation plan was notified, the MCJ is yet to redistribute the sanitation workers according to the newly constituted wards. At present, the MC’s Health Department is continuing with the old deployment of sanitation workers according to the old wards system.

According to Dr Srikrishan, though the Health Department has issued challans of Rs 4.5 lakh in the last month, only 30 per cent of the people have come forward to deposit the penalty.

“We are left with no option but to send the challans to the court who will further summon the defaulters. The public should respond well to the call for cleanliness and ensure cleanliness around their offices and houses,” said Dr Srikrishan.

Of the total 4,000 marks under the Swachh Sarvekshan 2018, over 1,200 marks were kept for direct observation, while 1,400 marks will be granted on the basis of residents’ feedback. With the MCJ facing acute shortage of sanitation workers and machinery in the newly constituted wards, the city is unable to collect and process over 500 metric tonnes of garbage generated every day. While residents are yet to make efforts at their own level to reduce, recycle and reuse the garbage, getting a satisfactory feedback from them seems to be a distant reality.