Don't let city get buried in construction debris
Construction material for commercial and residential buildings can be witnessed scattered on roads at many places in the city, posing a threat to the lives of commuters. Material such as sand, gravel, iron and bricks can be seen dumped on roads, shrinking the space on the already congested roads. Sadly, the administration has turned a blind eye towards this problem. People have no fear of law. Proper planning done before constructing roads regarding the right place to dump the construction material. Danger signs must be kept at the site of the construction. It must be made mandatory for a person to take permission from the Municipal Corporation to pay fee if anybody wants to dump such material outside their building along the road. There should be speedy construction of roads for minimum inconvenience for public.
Abhilasha Singh
Sustainable management required
The civic body cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the heaps of sands and bricks dumped on roads. Two-wheeler riders run the risk of meeting with fatal accidents. The locals are demanding for a ban on dumping of such construction material. There is a risk of such areas becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Officials should swing into action before the spread of any disease. The sanitation workers have already been instructed to remove the waste. The contruction and demolition material constitutes a significant part of waste. Dealing with it efficiently is the need of the hour. This can be done by resorting to recycling of waste material.
Vanshika
Cancel licence of erring contractors
Construction material lying unattended on the roads is a common sight. Gravel and sand can cause serious injuries as vehicles can skid over them. Whenever there is any construction going on, the contractors take the liberty of creating self-imposed encroachment which thereby wreaks havoc on smooth functioning of traffic and also poses serious threat to the kids in that area. Stringent rules should be formulated where permission for construction should only be given when construction material is properly taken care of. Failure in doing so should result in heavy penalty and cancellation of the licence of the contractors. Also, the residents should be more vigilant and aware.
Neeti Marwaha
Offenders should own up responsibility
Building material stocked along the roads causes many accidents. It leads to huge inconvenience to motorists. The MC should make mandatory laws in respect of this issue. If any construction material is found lying on the road, it should be confiscated by the MC. Challans must be issued to wrong doers and heavy financial penalties should be imposed on them. On the other hand, general public should be awarded about the dangers of this act. They should understand their moral responsibility and must keep their materials at safe place. If any accident happens due to the negligence of material owner, he must be held responsible for this and must compensate the aggrieved person.
Ritu Priya
Create awareness among public
Despite provisions in The Town and Country Planning Act as well as the issue of guidelines by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) prohibiting the sale, storage, loading and unloading of construction material on public roadsides, heaps of sand, rods and bricks can be found dumped on roads in the city. Despite indiscriminate dumping of sands, stones and bricks on the roads, the authorities and the traffic personnel are turning a blind eye to such violations which are rampant even on internal roads. In order to address the issue, an awareness vehicle of LMC (Ludhiana Municipal Corporation) should move around the city to create awareness about the rules that all the building material should be stored within the premises where construction is in progress.
Ravi Chander Garg
Make stakeholders responsible for disposal
Government should take initiatives against dumping construction material on roads. High fine should be imposed on the defaulters. Special arrangements should be done to stock the construction waste. If the construction waste is reusable then it should be reused in making of footpaths at road sides and gardens. Government should make people aware of the discomfort caused by dumping construction material on roads and the accidents taking place due to this. The citizens will become careful and the road accidents will be minimised.
Kuljot Kaur
Dispose of waste at designated places
Ludhiana Municipal Corporation and the traffic police have to gear up and identify such points regularly where the construction material or its kind is dumped on the road. This is not just in case of a single builder, but also some shopkeepers who are engaged in the business of selling construction material. Even these shopkeepers also keep their construction material dumped on the road thereby obstructing the smooth flow of the traffic. The Municipal Corporation should challan such shopkeepers whereas others should be dealt with strictly by the police.
Bir Devinder Singh Bedi
Eco-sensitive areas at high risk
Some waste generated in the process of construction can be eliminated. The ministry has directed the local bodies to make people aware of the punishment for dumping construction material on the roads in coordination with the political parties, prominent persons, social mobilisers, ward citizen awareness centres. We can recycle and reuse the construction waste to save money and the environment.
Shiwani
Recycling can help tackle menace
In the current scenario, the whole society has to bear the brunt of excessive construction in the society. Dumping construction material on roads may sometimes led to a serious accidents in which one may lose his/her life. In each locality, some particular areas must be marked to dump the debris. Material must be segregated into biodegradable and non-biodegradable categories. In case of some unavoidable circumstances, the Municipal Corporation should assign the duty to remove dumping from roads daily to avoid any accident. The incorrect disposal will cost everybody dearly. The debris must reach the recycling plant so that it does not the pose a threat to the commuters.
Dr Mohammad Saleem Farooqui
Demand should be based on utilisation
Dumping construction material on roads has led to fatal road accidents. This can be prevented by proper storage of this material in the construction area. The demand for construction material should be according to the utilisation. The storage of unused material should be minimum. Sign boards of 'construction area' should be placed at random places near construction area. Recycling plant should be commissioned at a designated area to plug this issue. If it is not addressed in time, we might be heading towards an epidemic.
Amar Preet
MC should charge rent for storing building material
Construction material such as sand, gravel, iron and bricks can be seen dumped on roads, shrinking the space on the already congested city roads and is the root cause for many fatal road accidents. Sadly, the administration has turned a blind eye towards this problem, so people have no fear of law. To prevent all this, it should be mandatory for a person to take permission from the MC by paying fee if he wants to dump such material outside their building along the road. Moreover, it should not be allowed to keep any construction stuff especially on roads. Only the change in rules and prevalent norms of the Administration of MC could solve this problem
Kritika Bhalla
Deal with negligent attitude of builders
Dumping construction material on roads in the city has led to fatal road accidents. To restrain this activity, there are many steps that should be taken. Dumping construction material on roads is a result of high level of overall waste production.If the amount of waste generated can be reduced,then the outcome will be fewer and fewer scenario of dumping. Local government or Municipal Corporation (MC) need to set lower disposal fees to encourage people to use the lawfully stipulated area.Municipal Corporations can even impose higher fines on illegal dumping to discourage the habit of dumping construction material on roads. The dumping construction material must be placed at one place and not scattered here and there. If people in all communities and societies stand up against illegal dumping or dumping of material on roads, it can impressively help in curbing this activity. When permit is granted, the corporation should include a clause that construction material must not be kept on the road for more than a few hours. A special taskforce of police can be employed to watch over sites where illegal dumping frequently occurs.Number of barriers (e.g:-Working Ahead) must be placed near the construction material.
Muskan Rehan
Need to empower traffic officials
Construction and demolition waste (C &D) increases the risk of road accidents, causes environment deterioration and leads to aesthetic loss. Decentralisation of task is the need of the hour. Traffic officials must be granted permission to fine waste dumpers in wake of jamming the roadside. This will ensure action at hand and will pose as a red-alert for waste throwers.
Krishna
Don’t let building waste pile up in city
Dumping of the construction material on roads has been carried out rampantly. Sometimes due to the problem of dumping some motorists or other two wheelers or four wheeler riders meet with an accident. The local government should specify some designated places to dump construction material at fixed sites. The material should be immediately removed from the road after charging some amount from the builder. People should use some vacant plots to fill the land or they should throw it away from the city as it is not the problem of one person.
Farzana Khan
Segregate debris to deal with it effectively
Any kind of waste along roads is harmful both physically, economically and environmentally. This amounts to illegal dumping. It is a critical issue which has led to many road accidents and fatal injuries. Many studies show that construction waste contributes 50 percent of the landfill which is significantly a huge figure impacting the environment and health of the people. Moreover, construction waste contains many harmful agents such as copper, sulphur and iron products. Hence, significant measures need to be taken to solve this problem. The local government bodies should consider this issue and allotment of an area for the disposal of construction and industrial waste should be done as the city is rapidly growing in these sectors. Furthermore, waste should be separated keeping in mind that we can recycle some stuff which would even save the cost and the time overrun. To make this in practice a notice should be given at construction sites and penalty should be announced.
Harshpreet Suri
Raise voice against illegal practices
It is estimated that the construction industry generates 530 million tons of construction waste annually. This waste is usually dumped along the roads posing a threat to the commuters. Related laws need have to be strict. Civic bodies should provide a facility for collection and disposal of construction wastes. Recycling and reusing units should be set up in every town and cities. Awareness among the contractors and builders needs to be created. Civic bodies should issue the guidelines and severe penalties must be imposed if waste removal guidelines are violated. If we want to save the innocent lives, it is the responsibility of every citizens to raise their voice against these illegal practices.
Rishika Kriti
Take help of police to remove encroachments
The local bodies should pull their socks to initiate action against people dumping construction material on roads. There is a need to book anyone who dumps construction material such as sand, pebbles, iron rods and bricks in public places. Erring officials should be booked and traffic police should be be allowed to curb all-pervasive encroachment on roads and footpaths and threats it poses to safety of pedestrians and motorists.
Karanpreet Kaur
OPEN HOUSE COMMENT
Watch your waste: Make roads obstruction-free
Minna Zutshi
Road safety is a major concern for commuters and pedestrians. Adhering to road safety rules while driving is imperative. Equally imperative is the safety of the road environment. Roads have to be properly maintained and free of obstructions and hinderances. Construction material dumped callously on roads has snuffed out many lives in fatal road accidents.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), road accidents have a ‘terrible impact’ on individuals, communities and countries. “They involve massive costs to often overburdened healthcare system, occupy scarce hospital beds, consume resources and result in significant losses of productivity and prosperity, with deep social and economic repercussions.”
Public awareness campaigns can play an important role in helping keep the roads clear of obstructions like dumped construction material. Anyone dumping construction material on road needs to be heavily penalised. This heavy penalty will also act as a deterrent. NGOs can pitch in for creating public awareness on the issue.
OPEN HOUSE QUESTION
The festive season is fast approaching. How can the sale of spurious and adulterated sweets be checked? ludhiana.feedback@gmail.com
