Despite tall MC claims, heaps of garbage present in city areas

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 17

Despite tall claims by the civic body regarding cleanliness, heaps of garbage can be seen in several areas of the city, making it a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies.

The lackadaisical attitude of the authorities concerned and residents’ carelessness seem to be the reason behind unhygienic surroundings. A huge amount of garbage can be seen lying unattended on the Model Town (Phase three main road) and various others areas in the city. Heaps of garbage have become a nuisance for residents as well as commuters.

This despite the fact that the MC has a team of 850 permanent and contractual sanitation workers and the JITF has 350 sanitation workers for door-to-door garbage collection in the city.

Moreover, the MC has road-cleaning machines. Even it has spent Rs 3 lakh on street plays and flex advertisements for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan from the funds sent by the Central Government.

The MC has spent Rs 24 lakh on buying 180 dustbins at a cost of around Rs 14,000 per pair of stainless steel dustbins in the city, but this has also failed to bring about any result as most of these dustbins have been damaged or stolen from various places in the city. Residents are irked over the poor sanitation in the city and have also complained many times to the MCB, but there has been no improvement in the condition.

The city was the first in the state where a private company was roped in to collect and transport garbage. But the scheme seems to have failed in maintaining hygiene and measuring up to the expectations and satisfaction of residents here.

Prof NK Gosain, a city resident, said it was sad to see the poor sanitation condition in the city, despite huge money being spent by the MCB on this. He said the MC was just putting burden on the common man by imposing more and more taxes, where the service provided by MCB to people was poor be it sanitation, roads, water-logging or sewage disposal.