E-Paper
Waste-side story: Lucknow needs to turn over a new leaf, end garbage woes
According to LMC’s own estimates, Lucknow generates nearly 1,500 tonnes of solid waste daily that amounts to about 45,000 tonnes of waste every month
Lucknow’s challenges on the waste front continue as garbage heaps dot the roadsides due to an allegedly erratic door-to-door trash collection system in most areas and there is no proper segregation of refuse.
The mess is worsened by the fact that Ecogreen, a private firm with Chinese links, has stopped doing its waste collection job.
The Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has 110 trucks, 200 small vehicles, 3700 handcarts, 49 bulldozers and 11,200 sanitation workers to lift 1,500 metric tonnes of garbage from the streets. But it is still not able to keep the city clean, says Congress corporator Mukesh Singh Chauhan.
If the garbage mounds are not picked up and treated scientifically at the landfill site during the rainy season, then there is every possibility of the city facing a bout of diseases, fears six-time corporator and leader of opposition in LMC house Sayyed Yawar Hussain ‘Reshu’.
Despite the grim scenario, additional municipal commissioner Abhay Pandey says, “The LMC is working to solve the problems of solid waste management of the city. Within a few days, things will be streamlined.”
And LMC environment engineer Sanjeev Pradhan assures, “All the problems will be solved within this week. Ecogreen is not working but now we are putting vendors in place for door-to-door waste collection. In the last 24 hours, LMC has lifted more than 200 trucks of waste from different parts of city to the Shivri landfill site.”
But the Opposition corporators still have their concerns.
“Lucknow is still struggling to have a system in place for garbage collection. As a result, garbage is growing by leaps and bounds every day, be it in Alambagh, Qaiserbagh, Chowk, Hazratganj, Lalkuan, Hewett Road, Indira Nagar and Mahanagar. Garbage removal is subject to the availability of sanitation workers on time after Ecogreen (a Chinese firm) stopped working in the city,” Reshu says.
According to LMC’s own estimates, Lucknow generates nearly 1,500 tonnes of solid waste daily that amounts to about 45,000 tonnes of waste every month but this is not being treated at the Shivri plant daily. That’s why more than 30 lakh tonnes of untreated waste piles up at Shviri, creating an environmental hazard for the residents nearby.
The state has spent more than ₹500 crore on solid waste management of the city, but the results are still a big zero, says Mukesh Singh Chauhan.
“Cleanliness is not really a choice, it is a duty... a moral responsibility, but LMC officials don’t seem to understand their duty towards their own city and citizens. Lucknow’s waste management is in a mess. Leave alone transportation of waste, even door-to-door collection of garbage is in a shambles,” Reshu emphasises.
