Uncovered garbage-laden vehicles trouble commuters

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, June 24

Municipal Corporation workers transporting garbage to dumping sites care little about instructions regarding covering of tractor-trailers with tarpaulin sheets during the transportation, which results in spilling of rubbish on to roads.

It has become a routine affair. One can easily spot uncovered garbage-laden tractor-trailers scattering waste on roads at different localities or chowks. A few vehicles do not even have rear covers. They scatter more waste on roads than transporting it to the dumping sites.

Residents have complained that garbage, especially polythene bags, fall from the moving MC vehicles.

“It is really troublesome when a person riding a two-wheeler is behind such vehicles. On the one hand, we are talking about development and Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan and on the other the MC is least bothered about taking action against such acts and is flouting the norms,” said a student, Suvidha Sharma.

Residents have demanded that the vehicles should be covered after loading of waste. Several residents have posted videos on social networking sites showing such uncovered garbage-laden vehicles spilling waste over roads. They said the civic body should issue strict instructions to vehicle operators to cover the same after loading the garbage.

Though officials of the Municipal Corporation claimed to have supplied tarpaulin sheets to the vehicle operators, the instructions are being openly flouted by them in the absence of any check by the authorities concerned.

Hitesh Aggarwal, Chief Sanitary Inspector, said: “Tarpaulin sheets were given to the vehicle operators, but they ignore instructions as they have to collect waste from a number of spots in the city.”

There were a few old tippers and tractor-trailers which had broken rear covers, these would be repaired soon. The authorities would ensure that the garbage collectors do not flout any norms, he added.