Explainer: Why Punjab’s urban waste crisis remains unsolved

It exposes governance failure and the state's reluctance to modernise sanitation

Rajmeet Singh

Updated At : 07:07 AM Sep 02, 2026 IST

Sanitation workers in Jalandhar recently went on protest against the Rs 607-crore integrated solid waste management project. Sarabjit Singh

A recent strike by sanitation workers in Jalandhar to protest against the Rs 607-crore integrated solid waste management project has brought to focus the chronic lack of political will to modernise the urban waste management system across the 167 urban local bodies (ULBs) in Punjab.

THE TRIBUNE, India’s oldest, daily English-language newspaper, was first published on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan), and save for 40 days in the immediate aftermath of Partition, has come out every day over the last 145 years. THE TRIBUNE was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist of the time. The newspaper is run by a five-member Trust, which is chaired by Shri N N Vohra, former Governor of J&K State (2008-2018); as well as Justice S S Sodhi, former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court; Shri Gurbachan Jagat, former Governor of Manipur; Lt Gen. Shamsher Singh Mehta, former Western Army Commander; Shri Paramjit Singh Patwalia, Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court.

THE TRIBUNE is free, objective, and independent. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language, are the hallmarks of the paper.

The Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).

Remembering Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia

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Explainer: Why Punjab’s urban waste crisis remains unsolved

It exposes governance failure and the state's reluctance to modernise sanitation

Rajmeet Singh

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