Hand over sanitation work to MC, demand traders
Unlock Exclusive Insights with The Tribune Premium
Take your experience further with Premium access. Thought-provoking Opinions, Expert Analysis, In-depth Insights and other Member Only BenefitsTraders have demanded that the sanitation work at the mandi should be handed over to the Municipal Corporation.
Sources said earlier, the MC used to look after cleanliness at the mandi, but it had expressed its inability to continue with it in 2023.
On August 18, 2023, the Medical Officer of Health, MC, had written to the Administrator, Market Committee, that the civic body was unable to continue with the existing contract of providing sanitation services in Sector 26 (Mandi) as per an MoU signed between it and the Market Committee, Sector 26, beyond August 31, 2023. The decision was communicated well in advance through a memo dated April 25, 2023. “It is therefore requested to kindly make necessary arrangements for sanitation services in the mandi area from September 1, 2023, at your own end,” read the letter.
After the MC left the job, the Market Committee hired a private agency for the work. Traders said the private agency was not doing satisfactory work as it did not have enough resources as available with the civic body.
The UT Administrator had visited the mandi on February 6 this year. On February 15, a meeting was held under the Chairmanship of the UT Deputy Commissioner, who directed MC officials to conduct regular sanitation drives at the mandi in coordination with the Market Committee on second and fourth Mondays of each month when there was no arrival of fruits and vegetables.
Brij Mohan Raju, president, Sabji Mandi Arhtiya Association, said despite the Administration’s direction, no regular sanitation was being done. He demanded that the Administration must issue direction to the MC to take over the sanitation work of the mandi. He said traders were also paying property tax and the Market Committee was paying garbage processing charges to the civic body in lakhs every month.
Kasturi Lal, general secretary of Arihant Vegetable Arhtiya Association, said the sanitation work should given to the MC with strict terms and conditions so as to ensure hygiene on the mandi premises.