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Chandigarh Our Take: It’s up to us to ensure the success of the new waste collection system
The reason for the city’s poor show is largely due to its waste management strategies, which are not up to scratch as yet despite years of planning
In another attempt to effectively manage waste in the city the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) will from Tuesday launch door-to-door collection of waste using twin bin vehicles.
With UT administrator VP Singh Badnore inaugurating the drive, the vehicles will first cover sectors 1 to 30 as part of a three phase plan. Part two, covering the rest of the sectors, will begin from January 1 and the last phase on January 7, covering Manimajra.
Until now, independent garbage collectors were lifting mixed waste from houses and commercial spaces. Earlier attempts to segregate waste fell flat as people refused to follow rules.
Residents will now have to pay user charges to the MC and will also be penalised for mixing waste. The new system will take off ahead of the upcoming Swachh Survekshan (cleanliness survey).
About 115 vehicles which will be used for collection in the first phase have reached the city and passed technical checks and 392 vehicles will join the fleet by the end of December.
The move comes in a year when Chandigarh improved its Swachh Survekshan ranking to 16 from 20 last year. However, the city could not make it to the top 10 cleanest cities in the country for the second year in a row.
Chandigarh last made it to the top slots in 2018 when it was adjudged the third cleanest.
The reason for the city’s poor show is largely due to its waste management strategies, which are not up to scratch yet despite years of planning.
Chandigarh’s experiment with the waste segregation plant at Dadumajra has so far been a fiasco, with the municipal corporation this year taking over from Jaypee.
Now, hopefully, with stricter action, the segregation mission might finally be successful.
Another issue that the city authorities need to resolve immediately is the manual garbage collectors’ plight. They have been demanding that they be allowed to lift waste and get paid 50% of the fine collected from defaulters.
MC joint commissioner Anil Garg, sanitation committee chairman Rajesh Kalia and medical officer of health Dr Amrit Warring recently met representatives of the collectors.“We have heard them and will take up their demands with senior officers. We are already registering them with us as drivers and helpers in the twin-bin hopper vehicles,” Dr Warring has said.
In a year with soaring unemployment rates because of Covid-19 lockdowns the administration and municipal corporation should ensure rehabilitation of each and every collector by integrating them into the system, help them work with dignity and earn enough to live a comfortable life.
Meanwhile, it is up to each and every resident of Chandigarh to ensure the success of the new system and ensure the city once again tops the Swachh Survekshan rankings.
WASTE NOT
How can success of door to door garbage collection be ensured?
The new segregated waste collection system rolls out in Chandigarh from December 22. How can its success be ensured? Send your response with your photograph to chandigarh@hindustantimes.com by December 25.
