Garbage dumps make town susceptible to diseases

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Samana, December 18

Traffic congestion, encroachments and poor garbage disposal are just some of the problems that the authorities in Samana have to tackle. Residents have a tough time parking their vehicles due to space constraint in the town that falls in the constituency of Cabinet Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra.

The markets in the town have become very congested with several encroachments having come up in all markets.

One can often see garbage dumps in different parts of the city. This has made the residents of the town susceptible to vector-borne diseases. Moreover, water-logging continues to be a major problem during the monsoon season. Though the council has laid sewer lines in most of the areas, these get choked in the rains.

A team of engineers from Chandigarh had inspected the area and informed the council that the sewer lines were small. But the council has not taken any step to address the problem. The outbreak of diarrhoea in the monsoon is quite common. There are no public toilets in most areas.

Annual budget

The municipal council (MC) has an annual budget of Rs 11.25 crore, out of which Rs 5.43 crore is allocated to pay salaries. Around Rs 2.88 crore is spent on paying power bills and the maintenance of water supply and sewerage lines.

The MC has earmarked Rs 28.82 lakh for contingency expenses and Rs 75 lakh for the maintenance of roads. The MC collects most of its revenue from property tax, sale of property, regularisation of houses and VAT.

Infrastructure

Samana has 14 government schools and 30 private and aided schools and the student strength is approximately 15,000. The community health centre in the town has good facilities.

Political landscape

In 2008, the SAD-BJP alliance won the council poll with Akali leaders winning most of the seats under the leadership of Kapoor Chand, a confidant of Cabinet Minister Surjit Rakhra. However, there is infighting in the alliance. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) can make an impact in the forthcoming local body elections.