Burning of garbage goes on unabated

Minna Zutshi

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 30

The banned practice of garbage burning continues unabated in the city. Strangely, the Municipal Corporation chooses to ignore the banned practice. Worse still, the MC employees, it is learnt, are openly flouting the ban. Instead of disposing the garbage in eco-friendly way, they pile it up along with dried leaves and burn it all in the open.

“Garbage is piled up on roadsides and in vacant plots. Quietly, the piles are set on fire. If you stop the MC employees from burning the garbage, they usually go in a denial mode. Those who are ‘brave enough’ to admit their ‘mistake’, say that they burn the garbage as there is no provision for its management and treatment,” said Satinder Singh, a retired teacher.

Ludhiana has been reduced to a city of smoky garbage piles. In the mornings, garbage piles on fire are a common sight. The MC is simply shirking its responsibility. So are the legislators, said a senior citizen, Gulab Singh.

City residents ask why the segregation of waste is not being done. The MC can enlist the public support for this. Even the MLAs can chip in. An entrepreneur, while requesting anonymity, said: “It seems that the officials are busy making Ludhiana a ‘Smart City’, while the basic issues are taking a backseat. Let us ask the civic body whether it has ever imposed any fine on those who burn garbage. In how many cases has it taken a punitive action against its own employees indulging in the practice of garbage burning?” 

The issue of garbage burning, it seems, is not an issue for the legislators, who have ‘more’ important matters to attend to – the politically expedient issues that make big headlines and grab media attention, adds the entrepreneur.