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Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Road not clear for project’s success

JALANDHAR: The much-hyped nationwide Swachh Bharat project has hit a major roadblock in Jalandhar with the absence of a dedicated garbage collection service by the civic body.

Road not clear for project’s success


Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, June 24

The much-hyped nationwide Swachh Bharat project has hit a major roadblock in Jalandhar with the absence of a dedicated garbage collection service by the civic body. The bins, due to less capacity, remain filled and garbage scattered throughout the day, showing the plight of the Swachh Bharat project in the city.

With a soaring population of over 10 lakh residing in more than 60 wards, the city still has to witness adequate measures as per the Swachh Bharat campaign in many areas. Although the civic body has installed over 500 roadside bins on major roads and also placed other bins at sensitive littering points, several dumping areas in the city languish under pitiable sanitary conditions and are in dire need of sustainable solutions to the accumulation of tonnes of waste.

Several dumping areas lie riddled with dump piles which are not picked for ages. Notorious among the dumping grounds include – the playground near DAV College, Focal Point, the dump under the flyover at the Lamma Pind Chowk, Ram Nagar Colony (Sodal), Surya Enclave Extension, Plaza Chowk in front of the MC office, dump near Burlton Park, Nakodar Road among other areas.

Paucity of funds

As per the Swachh Bharat project, an amount of Rs 240 per capita, per person has been allocated for the city (within the MC limits) for a period of five years from the Central government and an additional Rs 80 per capita has to be allotted by the state government under the scheme, which makes it to Rs 320 per capita, per person in total. While the population of the city (within the MC limits) is a little over 10 lakh, the civic body has only received Rs 3.71 crore to date, while the allocations for the city should be Rs 32 crore for a period of five years. Hence, of the Rs 6 crore meant for the city in the first year of the allocations (last year) only Rs 3.71 crore has been received so far.

Lavatories awaited

Even though the civic body has planned 27 community and seven public toilets in the second phase of the Swachh Bharat campaign in the city since long, the work on these is yet to be started.

Officials of the MC claimed the tender had been passed and that the construction of public toilets would start soon, They said by the end of this year, the city would observe major changes with the availability of all 27 community and public toilets. Additionally, though the civic body has also proposed nearly eight mobile toilets in the city to be bought at an estimated cost of Rs 40 lakh each, it has only received two of these so far.

App fails to woo residents

While the country is going gaga over the success of the Swachhta App, it appears to have fallen flat in the city. Of the population of 10 lakh within MC limits alone, the app has been able to garner only 1,158 registrations from city residents so far.

Garbage woes

“After several pleas made to officials of the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) to place notice boards in the area declaring it a no-dumping zone, it was only 20 days ago that a wall painting exhorting residents not to dump garbage or debris in the area, has been placed. However, garbage dealers collecting waste from all major hotels and restaurants still continue to dump garbage at vacant plots here, to be segregated later by rag pickers in the area. The area has become a den for mosquitoes and other insects,” said Jitendra Mohan Sharma, a resident of the Surya Enclave Extension. He also said the residents had been tired of complaining to JIT and MC officials again and again about clearing the area. Children playing outside homes here have become prone to harmful diseases due to dumping of waste, but no action has been taken yet, he rued. 

Apart from this, residents also complain that efforts should be made to generate awareness about cleanliness and sanitation and bringing about behavioural changes on health and hygiene practices. Mayor Sunil Jyoti said, “An amount of Rs 3.71 crore has been received so far. We are planning to initiate modern waste dumping techniques in the city, but due to paucity of funds, the developments could not be attained. Several other programmes to remove solid waste and major dumps from the city lie under the process and will be initiated as soon as we receive the funds.”

MCJ Health Officer Dr Srikrishan Sharma said that  some of the garbage lifting infrastructure bought included 10 tippers and 10 JCB machines, while small vehicles to lift garbage from congested areas and nearly 25 JCB machines had been enlisted. The civic body will soon ensure proper disposal of the waste, he said. “We have planned and even earmarked a site to install a compost plant and the project will be initiated at the earliest,” he added. 

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