Strike leaves Mohali in mess, trash piles dot markets, roads

The four-day strike by sanitation workers has left the city in a mess with heaps of waste dotting the residential areas, parks and markets here.

While the strike was called off today after the protesting employees and the Municipal Corporation reached a decision on the insistence of Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh, inaction by both the civic body and the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has raised eyebrows.

Residents criticised the civic body officials, the Mayor, councillors and the MLA for passing the buck, while GMADA, which collects crores by auctioning government land, also found itself at the receiving end of flak for not sparing land for establishing dumping ground.

Garbage, meanwhile, continued to be littered around in corners of residential areas and markets, and dumped in the city’s choes and roadsides.

“Take a round of the markets or go to any residential area, there are mounds of garbage lying everywhere. No one is bothered,” said NS Kalsi, a resident of Phase 4, where the booth market was covered in waste.

Plastic waste and stray cattle, meanwhile, are a common sight in the Phase-5 market and Phase 1. “Unhygienic conditions prevail in the motor market. The toilets too are in a shambles here,” shopkeepers complained.

Sector 71 residents said the community centre has become defunct as the approach road is littered with trash.

Residents of Ward No. 4 in Phase 2 also complained of irregular garbage collection. While certain lanes received the service, many houses are inexplicably skipped, leaving residents frustrated.

Atul Sharma, a resident, said the stretch between House No. 505 and 512 is covered but adjacent houses including 550, 585 and 603 are being skipped by sanitation staff. “Despite several requests made to the MC Commissioner Parminder Pal Singh, no action has been taken,” he added.

The civic body’s office is itself in a mess, painting the picture of a battleground of vested political interests.

After the strike was called, the Mohali MLA said, “The governments also have the responsibility to solve all kinds of problems of the residents.”

Mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu, meanwhile, said there was a serious problem of garbage and waste disposal in the city and GMADA should provide land for waste disposal.

“To date, no such site has been prepared for waste management that is environmentally approved. The civic body has tried several times to prepare a waste management site, but due to opposition from nearby villages and the lack of available land, all efforts have failed,” he added.

Punjab Safai Mazdoor Federation members had on June 30 announced an indefinite strike in the city after a face-off with the sanitary inspectors regarding attendance.

Punjab Safai Mazdoor Federation president Sohan Singh said as long as their long-pending demands are not met and arbitrary attitude of sanitary inspectors is not mended, the workers will resort to suspending work.

“The MC has become a den of corruption. Sanitary inspectors have been sticking to one post for past 10-15 years,” they alleged.