Biomedical waste collectors lift garbage from houses of quarantined residents

It came as a big relief for the quarantined families as the garbage was not being collected from their houses since they were quarantined

Amid row over collection of garbage from the houses of the residents who have been home quarantined, a team of biomedical waste collectors on Wednesday lifted garbage from 15 such houses that come under zone-A of the municipal corporation (MC). It came as a big relief for the quarantined families as garbage was piling up at their houses since they were quarantined.

A team of boimedical waste collectors, under the supervision of MC joint commissioner Swati Tiwana (in red shirt) and secretary Jasdev Sekhon (in white shirt), lifting garbage from the houses of home quarantined residents in Ludhiana on Wednesday. (HT Photo)

The team, under the supervision of MC joint commissioner Swati Tiwana and secretary Jasdev Sekhon, wore coverall suits and ensured all necessary precautions during the process.

Earlier, the MC staff had demanded that they should not be forced to collect garbage from the houses of those residents who have been self-quarantined fearing the virus could transmit through the garbage. They had also claimed that the MC staff was not trained to carry out the process safely. It was then decided that the company, which has been awarded the contract to dispose the biomedical waste in the city, would collect the garbage and dispose the same at the biomedical waste plant on Tajpur Road.

In four zones of the city, there are 89 houses where the residents have been home quarantined. The civic body has decided to take up the garbage collection in phases, MC officials said.

“Garbage was collected with full precautions by the team of biomedical waste collectors and houses in other zones will be covered in the coming days,” the MC secretary said.

Ensure regular sanitisation of sabzi mandis, banks: MC chief

Meanwhile, MC commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar, during a meeting with the officials of operations and maintenance branch, directed the officials to ensure regular sanitisation of the vegetable markets (sabzi mandis) and banks.

As per the reports, it is suspected that ACP Anil Kohli who passed away after getting infected from to the virus, had contracted the virus while he was deputed at the main vegetable market near Jalandhar bypass.