Rain makes garbage dump a health hazard

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, August 13

With rainy season having set in, a serious health hazard facing residents of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar – a colony developed and maintained by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) —has multiplied manifold due to the presence of an unkempt garbage dump.

Already a favourite hunting ground for stray dogs, cattle and pigs, the two-side open dump with no boundary wall to retain garbage and waste matter inside, is littered all around, with animals causing further nuisance by spreading the decaying and putrefied waste.

Even though the so-called posh colony has been developed and is still being maintained by LIT, the garbage dump was constructed by the Municipal Corporation, allegedly under political pressure from the outgoing councillor, who belonged to the then ruling SAD-B.

According to Arvind Sharma, secretary of the Council of RTI Activists, information obtained from the MC under the Right to Information Act sometimes last year, had indicated that the contractor had carried out a shoddy job – using sub-standard material and poor workmanship to the extent that the corrugated iron sheets put on the roof of the garbage dump had blown away by mild thunderstorm.

In a complaint lodged with LIT authorities now, Sharma and other residents of the colony have said the dump located in front of the H-block on the 100-Feet Road, was in a pathetic condition of disrepair. “Iron sheets put on the roof are hanging loose, the dump has no boundary wall and is open from two sides with no gate or cover to retain the waste matter inside. As a result, garbage dumped inside or outside the dump is littered all around by stray animals roaming at the site,” said the aggrieved residents.

Area residents maintained that the overall sanitation level of the colony being extremely poor, no arrangements were in place for regular lifting of garbage and its proper disposal at the dumping site. “Especially, when the rainy season is in full flow, the putrefied waste and garbage gives out an unbearable stench exposing residents to vector-borne and water-borne disease. Even otherwise, the dump with littered garbage all around, at times even along the main road, has become a source of general nuisance,” the complaint said.

LIT officials said sanitation contract of the colony had recently been renewed and directions have been issued to the contractor to take necessary steps for the regular sweeping of roads and streets as well as lifting and disposal of garbage from the dump.