Chandigarh residents protest MC’s garbage collection policy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 26

City residents staged a protest against the garbage collection policy of the Municipal Corporation at Sector 21 here today.

The protest was organised by the Federation of Sector Welfare Association Chandigarh (FOSWAC) and the Citizens’ Association, Sector 21.

Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman, FOSWAC, said the corporation was hell-bent on disturbing the peaceful life of residents as it started a new garbage collection scheme by purchasing around 400 new vehicles. The garbage collection charges were around three times of what various RWAs used to collect from residents for the job, he claimed.

He flayed the corporation for ‘arbitrarily’ imposing different rates in their water bills. Some residents’ got garbage collection charges around Rs4,500, Bittu said. He said showing garbage collection charges in water bills was very complicated as most houses had single meter and the owners were facing problem in recovering charges from tenants and co-owners.

JS Gogia, general secretary, FOSWAC, said the corporation was on looting spree, adding that it was spending public money unwisely.

Pardeep Chopra, secretary, Citizens’ Association, Sector 21, said in the name of the National Green Tribunal, the MC spent crores on purchasing over 400 diesel vehicles without caring for the pollution created by them, thus defeating the purpose of making the city pollution-free.

He said residents apprehend that the MC would hand over the garbage collection work to some private contractor, who would then exploit them.