Heaps of garbage growing

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 23

There seems no end in sight to the garbage-dumping site issue even after two months, even as garbage heaps dot each and every road in the city. In the absence of any dumping sites, MC employees are not lifting waste as a result of which garbage heaps are growing in size with each passing day.

A visit to various localities in the city, including the ones which are considered posh, revealed that large garbage heaps have appeared everywhere. While MC officials claim that they are working to resolve the issue, politicians are engaged in a mere war of words.

The row over the dumping site had started when residents of the localities near Bhagtanwala had started protesting against dumping of waste as a serious health hazard to them. They opposed further dumping of waste at the site.

Later, students of a nursing college protested against dumping of garbage at the dump on the Jhabal road. With the people protesting against dumping of garbage at the two sites, the MC tried to find another dumping site near Fatahpur village.

However, as the matter seemed to be resolved, the residents of localities near the new dumping site also started protesting, stating that it would cause serious health problems. In the midst of all this, the MC employees stopped lifting garbage, stating that they won’t lift it till the MC earmarked a place to dump waste.

Meanwhile, MLA Inderbir Singh Bolaria and BJP leader Tarun Chugh, started representing the residents of Bhagtanwala and Fatahpur, respectively, as the localities fall in their Assembly constituencies.

The city residents, fearing an epidemic-like situation due to rotting garbage, stated that the issue concerned the entire city and instead of supporting the people of their own constituencies to strengthen their vote banks, politicians must help in finding a solution to the problem.

“Garbage has to be dumped at some place. But localities have come up everywhere. So, there will always be somebody who will oppose the location of the dump,” said an MC official on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, MC Commissioner Pradeep Sabarwal said they were working on the problem to find a solution.