Faridabad: Stinking reality of Smart City

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, October 2

Garbage disposed along the national highway passing through the city and strewn on the roads is a common sight in this Smart City. Garbage disposal and waste management has taken a hit as the Municipal Corporation (MC) here is reeling under acute shortage of sanitation staff.

AK Gaur, a social activist, said as garbage was being dumped in open spaces, things have turned worse with waste occupying half of the national highway passing through the city. At many points, stray cattle could be seen rummaging through garbage at any point of time.

“There is no development to prove that the city is getting smart or cleaner with funds to the tune of several crores either been spent or being used under the clean India campaign that was limited to papers only,” says Varun Sheokand, an RTI activist.

Sources said while the city was placed 88th in the cleanliness survey done across the nation in January, the MC had been facing acute shortage of staff and machinery required to clean or manage garbage. There was only one safai karamchari against 415 persons in the city, the sources added.

The city, which has a population of around 16 lakh, needs at least 8,000 employees but had only half its requirement, it is learnt.

Claiming that a large number of the civic body staff was working at the residences of officers and VIPs, Naresh Shastri, president of the Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh, alleged that the government had failed to recruit adequate staff in the past several years, resulting in a complete mess. “The MC has poor number of trucks and employees to garbage,” he said.

A senior MC official said efforts were on to improve cleanliness, garbage removal and waste disposal in the city.