Mohali residents face difficulty disposing daily garbage amid lockdown

Mohali MC commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg said, the work of garbage collection is outsourced and the department had already directed the persons concerned to collect the garbage daily

Despite the best efforts of the municipal corporation (MC) officials, residents of various sectors and housing societies here have complained that they are facing difficulty in daily garbage disposal amid lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“We are trying our best to clear the areas of waste, but the only issue is the shortage of manpower as workers are scared of the deadly virus,” said the officials.

The president of ATS society in Kharar, Rajan Kapoor, said, “Since the announcement of the curfew, the residents have been facing an issue of waste disposal. We are now using a nearby dumping site to throw garbage generated by our society.”

Adding to this, another resident of the same society, Atul Gupta, said, “The garbage dump has started smelling bad and has also become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.”

A resident of Sector 69 here, Shiv Dutta, said that no garbage collector had visited the sector in the past two weeks. “Residents of the area have to dispose of daily waste at the nearby Safai Sehaj Kendras,” he said.

What MC says?

Mohali MC commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg said, the work of garbage collection is outsourced and the department had already directed the persons concerned to collect the garbage daily. He said the problem is arising as the garbage collectors are themselves scared of coronavirus.

A similar problem is being faced by people living in the Maya Garden Colony at Zirakpur where the garbage collectors visit the area only once or twice a week. On the days when the waste is not lifted by the collectors, it becomes difficult to manage the heaps as stray dogs come and scatter the waste and litter the area.