Karnal MC cleaning staff driving garbage vehicles, sanitation a casualty

Parveen Arora

Karnal, June 3

The sanitation division of the Karnal Municipal Corporation is facing acute shortage of drivers for garbage collection vehicles, owing to which, around 110 cleaning staff members have to work as drivers, hampering the cleaning work in the city.

As per the data, there are 116 garbage lifting vehicles in the four zones, but except a few vehicles, remaining vehicles are being operated by the cleaning staff.

This has led to shortage of cleaning staff in the 20 wards of the city.

An official said the post of drivers had been lying vacant for a long time.

1,056 staff against demand of 1,500

The post of drivers has been lying vacant for a long time. The situation becomes worse when the sanitary staff members go on leave. The civic body has 1,056 sanitary workers against the demand of 1,500. The situation is more worrisome in the rural areas. —An MC official

Asked MC to deploy extra workers

The cleaning staff assigned to my ward is not enough. Owing to the shortage of staff, cleanliness has taken a backseat in the ward. I have requested the Municipal Commissioner to assign more sanitary workers for the ward. —A councillor

Sought 240 more employees

We have making efforts to ensure cleanliness with the staff that is available with the corporation. We have sought 240 employees through the Kaushal Vikas Board. We are hopeful they will be deployed at the earliest. —Naresh Narwal, MC commissioner

“The situation becomes worse when the sanitary staff members go on leave. The civic body has 1,056 sanitary workers against the demand of 1,500. The situation is more worrisome in the rural areas,” he added.

Owing to the shortage of cleaning staff, ward councillors also complained of poor sanitation work in their wards.

“My ward is spread across a large area and the cleaning staff assigned to the ward is not enough. Owing to the shortage of cleaning staff, cleanliness has taken a backseat in the ward. I have requested the Municipal Commissioner to assign more sanitary workers for the ward,” a councillor said.

Another councillor said the government should appoint drivers at the earliest so that the cleaning staff could be pressed into the service of cleaning.

The shortage of sanitation workers may affect the ranking of the city in the Swachh Survekshan.

In the 2021 Swachh Survekshan ranking, Karnal had slipped to the 86th position from 17th in 2020 in the 1-10 lakh population category.

Still, around 30 per cent garbage is not being segregated at the source.

As per information, Karnal city generates around 170 tonnes of garbage every day, while the capacity of the solid waste management (SWM) plant on Meerut Road is only 150 tonnes per day.

Naresh Narwal, Commissioner, MC, said they had making efforts to ensure cleanliness with the staff that is available with the corporation.

“We have sought 240 employees, including 120 drivers and 120 helpers through the Kaushal Vikas Board. We are hopeful that more workers will be deployed at the earliest to us. This will help us a lot,” the Municipal Corporation Commissioner added.