Rajouri residents protest ‘lax attitude’ of municipal officials
Shyam Sood
Rajouri, January 18
Annoyed with the lax attitude of the officials of the Municipal Committee over non-lifting of garbage, faulty street lights and dirty lanes and drains, residents of Ward No. 5 today held a protest and raised slogans against the officials.
“Foul smell is emanating from heaps of garbage which have become a major health hazard. The officials seem to be in a deep slumber despite several representations/complaints by people,” said Nazeer Ahmed of Ward No 5.
Nazeer said schoolchildren were the worst sufferers. He said the lanes in the ward were narrow and the area was ill-planned. Most of the structures in the area were raised illegally in nexus with Municipal committee officials, he said.
Shahnawaz, who works with Social Justice, an NGO, said many people had encroached upon lanes and drains, causing inconvenience to commuters.
Municipal Committee official Mohammad Nazir said as people had encroached upon narrow lanes, MC employees were finding it difficult to take trolleys inside the ward to collect garbage. “It is not possible for our employees to remove garbage daily and carry it on their head. It also results in dumping of garbage at one or the other place,” said the official.
Another resident, Rizwan Malik, said the government had provided hundreds of dust bins to the Municipal Committee for installation at old and new Rajouri towns, but the authorities had dumped them for reasons best known to them.
A local, M Qureshi, said as the sweepers rarely visit the area, garbage dumped in lanes was choking the drains and the overflowing sewage water was entering houses.
The residents said the matter had been taken up several times with the Rajouri DC, but despite his instructions, Municipal Committee officials had done nothing to mitigate the problems of the inhabitants of the area.
The locals demanded an inquiry against the officials, who were allowing unauthorised constructions despite notices issued through advocate Qamar Hussain.
