Keeping Ahmedgarh roads garbage-free on Diwali

Keeping the town clean remains a challenge for the municipal council during the festival season even as members of the sanitation staff had to toil hard to sweep roads and streets, besides collecting garbage from households on Monday, despite it being a public holiday on account of Diwali.

This when their families had been waiting for them to make preparations for puja as people around them were celebrating the festival.

Beat incharges and sweepers came forward to help the residents celebrate the festival of victory of good over evil in a hygienic and clean environment in response to a call given by councillors led by president, municipal council, Vikas Krishan Sharma.

“Having received a call from president, municipal council, Vikas Krishan Sharma, we persuaded members of the Sanitation Department to perform their duty as usual so that residents could celebrate the festival in a clean and hygienic environment,” said Roop Lal. He said the employees working on a holiday would be given compensatory leave according to their requirement.

Appreciating gesture shown by officials and employees of the Sanitation Department, president Sharma said leaders of the Safai Mazdoor Union had agreed to get the cleanliness work done on Diwali despite it being a public holiday. “Though we had asked the employees to adjust their working hours according to their commitments with their families and relatives, they offered to work as usual and adjust timings of celebrations,” said Sharma, maintaining that the sanitary inspector had been advised to give compensatory leave to employees working on the holiday.

However, the municipal council personnel had to face the ire of residents of localities where garbage was usually keep at depots before being disposed of at dumps situated on the outskirts of nearby villages.

Solid waste management remained an uphill task and the biggest impediment in implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission in localities falling under local the municipal council. As sweepers had been collecting segregated garbage from all domestic units in routine, residents apprehended that they might have to keep the waste at their homes on the festival day. But sanitation workers sweeping roads and collecting garbage as usual came as a pleasant surprise for residents as they (residents) were thinking of disposing of the garbage on their own.

wuw