Viral video exposes neglect of Golden Temple plaza, foreign tourist takes matters into own hands

A video of a foreign tourist picking up garbage outside Golden Temple in Amritsar has gone viral, highlighting the municipal corporation’s failure to maintain sanitation arrangements around the complex. The tourist, who covered his head with a saffron cloth and wore gloves, was seen collecting juice packets, plastic bags, and other waste outside shops in the Golden Temple plaza.

The Golden Temple plaza and Heritage Street were developed by the SAD-BJP government in 2016, with a mechanical sweeping firm and dedicated staff hired to maintain cleanliness. However, the Congress government ended the contract with the sweeping firm in 2019, and the sanitation staff became redundant.

As a result, the Golden Temple plaza and Heritage Street have been neglected, with garbage piling up on the heritage street. Vendors and illegal encroachments operate late into the night, contributing to the problem. The foreign tourist’s ‘seva’ have exposed the attitude of locals who litter and the MC’s failure to maintain proper sanitation arrangements, said Davinder Singh, a devotee. He pointed out that the government spent Rs 350 crore on the Heritage Street project, yet it remains in a neglected state. Jaswinder Singh, a resident of Kabir Park, emphasised that the MC should remove vendors and make proper sanitation arrangements.

In response, Mayor Jatinder Singh Moti Bhatia announced plans to deploy dedicated sanitation staff outside Darbar Sahib and Durgiana Temple to prevent future inconvenience to visitors.