Even as the civic body is making tall claims about streamlining door-to-door collection of waste in the city, around 50 waste collectors protested against municipal corporation (MC) officials and Congress leader Gurpreet Gopi on Tuesday after being stopped from dumping garbage at the Dugri static compactor site.
They blocked Dugri canal bridge with their carts for around an hour and threatened to dump the waste in between the chowk, if the issue wasn’t resolved.
As per information, the garbage collectors collect waste from houses in Dugri, Dhandra Road and adjoining areas. Earlier, they used to dump the waste at a secondary dump site in Dugri, which was removed after residents raised objections against it. The collectors were then asked to dump the garbage at the static compactor site.
After the quantity of garbage at the compactor site increased and started to spill on the roadsides, Gopi, who is the son of deceased area councillor (ward number 49) Rajinder Kaur, stopped them from dumping the garbage there and directed them to dump it at secondary dump site in Model Town near scooter market.
The garbage collectors said it is difficult for them to pull the cart full of garbage to that site. When authorities failed to act on their complaint, they staged a protest on Tuesday. Police also reached at the spot and the protest was lifted after they received assurance from the Congress in-charge of Atam nagar constituency, Kamaljit Singh Karwal.
{{/usCountry}}The garbage collectors said it is difficult for them to pull the cart full of garbage to that site. When authorities failed to act on their complaint, they staged a protest on Tuesday. Police also reached at the spot and the protest was lifted after they received assurance from the Congress in-charge of Atam nagar constituency, Kamaljit Singh Karwal.
{{/usCountry}}Karwal told them that the MC will re-establish the dump site in Dugri in a week or so and till then, the garbage can be dumped at the compactor site near Dugri canal bridge.
Karwal said, “Gopi had stopped the collectors from dumping the waste at the compactor site as garbage is spilling onto the roadside, resulting in nuisance and foul smell. I will take up the matter with MC officials and a secondary dump site will be established in the Dugri area again.”
Despite attempts to reach MC health officer Vipal Malhotra, he was not available for comments.
Meanwhile, the commuters were left a harried lot. Sukhdeep Singh said that on Monday, farmers blocked the road and now it is the garbage collectors. “It is the public which faces harassment. The administration and police should not allow anyone to block the roads during protest,” he added.