Green belt turned dumping ground, Sirsa officials face backlash

Deteriorating sanitation, mismanagement of green belts, delayed railway projects and concerns related to public services were discussed during a District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) meeting held at Panchayat Bhawan on Friday. Officials were instructed to take immediate action to restore public spaces, address waste management issues and accelerate work on key infrastructure projects.

During the meeting, officials were criticised for converting a green belt near the Civil Hospital into a dumping ground and for poor sanitation across the city. Questions were raised over repeated cleanliness drives that have failed to bring visible improvements on the ground. Municipal authorities were directed to remove waste from the green belt immediately and restore it as a public green space.

MP Kumari Selja, who chaired the meeting, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the slow pace of several railway projects, including the under-construction foot overbridge, which has reached only 50 per cent completion and has shown minimal progress over the past three months. Officials were asked to submit an accelerated action plan. The impact of the Railway Under Bridge (RUB-144) project on Court Road, which has caused traffic disruptions, was also discussed. Authorities were instructed to complete pending sewer line work after the installation of the drinking water pipeline.

Other issues raised included inadequate canal water supply to farmers in tail-end villages and concerns over high total dissolved solids (TDS) in drinking water. Selja directed the Irrigation and Public Health departments to submit detailed reports and implement long-term solutions. The shortage of computer education staff in government schools was also noted, with instructions to fill vacant posts and improve facilities for students.

Executive Engineer Sunil Kumar of the National Highways Authority was directed to clean and repair drains, fix damaged slabs, install welcome gates at Sirsa and Fatehabad, repair non-functional streetlights and construct a properly marked speed breaker in Ward 20.