Paucity of sanitary workers, Municipal Corporation struggles to keep Palampur clean

Ravinder Sood

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Palampur, January 29

Heaps of garbage can be seen dumped in many localities of Palampur town and its satellite areas. The littered areas emit a foul smell, contrary to the tall claims of Municipal Corporation (MC) officials of maintaining cleanliness in the town.

Garbage dumps in localities such as Maranda, Ghuggar Tanda, Differpatt and Rajpur and even on main roads is a common sight. The lifting of waste from most of the MC wards is slow and in many areas, it is lifted after a week. In fact, poor sanitation in parts of Palampur town has become a nuisance for residents.

The residents of the town, who had high hopes from the newly formed Municipal Corporation regarding cleanliness, are disappointed. Even after one year of the MC coming into being, no improvement has been seen on the ground. Many residents say that the condition was better when their areas were part of panchayats than it is now under the MC. Last year, 15 panchayats were merged with the municipal council to pave the way for the formation of the corporation.

“Facing an acute shortage of manpower and resources, the civic body is struggling to keep the town clean. In the absence of an adequate number of sanitary workers, it has become difficult for the MC to keep the town clean,” says Anish Nag, Deputy Mayor, Palampur Municipal Corporation.

He says at present the MC is paying Rs 19.40 lakh per month to two sanitary contractors tasked with keeping the town clean. As per the agreement, the contractors are supposed to recruit 180 workers in 15 wards. However, during surprise checking, it was found that the contractors had deputed only 114 sanitary workers in all 15 wards.

Nag says that it is not possible to clean all 15 wards having a population over 50,000 with the help of 114 workers. He adds that the Municipal Commissioner has imposed a 30 per cent cut in the payment to be made to one of the contractors. Besides, proceedings for the recovery of excess payment made to the contractor has also been initiated.

“As per the rules, there should be five sanitary workers against 1,000 persons in ever municipal body. However, the Palampur MC has only 114 sanitary workers for a population of over 50,000; there is a shortage of 136 workers,” says a senior officer of the Urban Development Department.