Dehradun: Private waste management firm Doon Valley Waste Management (DVWM’s) withdrawal from garbage disposal contract with Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) has given the corporators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in the civic body to indulge in blame-game.
Each one is trying to implicate the rival party for the failure of the solid management project in the state capital, blaming the other of playing politics of garbage with an eye on electoral gains in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Notably, a large section of the city falls in the Tehri Lok Sabha constituency. Since civic sanitation is an important matter concerning the public directly, it appears that both the political outfits are trying to rake up the issue to their political merit. In a city that generates around 250 metric tonnes of waste every day, sanitation could be one of the major issues on which the two parties would try to secure their vote bank among the urban masses in the state capital. The BJP is claiming that the Congress-led state government did not take timely measures to save the crisis between the DMC and DVWM. Calling the situation a “total failure of the Congress government”, they feel that the solid waste project ran smoothly until the BJP remained in power.
“Ever since the Congress took the reins of the state, unnecessary interferences by the government and the uncalled for activity of the Congress MLAs in DMC’s functioning deteriorated the project,” says BJP corporator from Jhanda Mohalla, Ajay Singhal. There are also allegations that the Congress government did so to ‘malign’ the BJP’s image which is in majority in the DMC board. “It was a plot to malign the BJP’s name, so that we lose the public trust before the general elections,” said Sushil Gupta, corporator from ward Lakhibagh. On the other hand, many Congress corporators are of the opinion that the BJP failed in sustaining a project that commenced during its regime. “Despite roping in the company for solid waste management project during its previous term, the current BJP-led DMC board (2008-13) gas failed to ensure the company’s efficient functioning. We see it as the total failure of the BJP and the mayor, who together were unable to keep things under control. It is unfortunate that it (the BJP) is blaming the Congress government even when the BJP was itself a failure in this regard,” said Congress corporator from Karanpur Vinay Kohli. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Congress vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana said that during the Lok Sabha elections, his party would take up the issue about the BJP ‘misleading the public’. “We will certainly expose the BJP-led DMC board on its failure to address basic civic issues like city’s sanitation in the upcoming elections,” Dhasmana said. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Harbans Kapoor said that the conflict on sanitation should not be politicised out of proportion. “We should try to move forward and not politicise the issue of failing garbage disposal mechanism in the state capital,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Ever since the Congress took the reins of the state, unnecessary interferences by the government and the uncalled for activity of the Congress MLAs in DMC’s functioning deteriorated the project,” says BJP corporator from Jhanda Mohalla, Ajay Singhal. There are also allegations that the Congress government did so to ‘malign’ the BJP’s image which is in majority in the DMC board. “It was a plot to malign the BJP’s name, so that we lose the public trust before the general elections,” said Sushil Gupta, corporator from ward Lakhibagh. On the other hand, many Congress corporators are of the opinion that the BJP failed in sustaining a project that commenced during its regime. “Despite roping in the company for solid waste management project during its previous term, the current BJP-led DMC board (2008-13) gas failed to ensure the company’s efficient functioning. We see it as the total failure of the BJP and the mayor, who together were unable to keep things under control. It is unfortunate that it (the BJP) is blaming the Congress government even when the BJP was itself a failure in this regard,” said Congress corporator from Karanpur Vinay Kohli. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Congress vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana said that during the Lok Sabha elections, his party would take up the issue about the BJP ‘misleading the public’. “We will certainly expose the BJP-led DMC board on its failure to address basic civic issues like city’s sanitation in the upcoming elections,” Dhasmana said. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Harbans Kapoor said that the conflict on sanitation should not be politicised out of proportion. “We should try to move forward and not politicise the issue of failing garbage disposal mechanism in the state capital,” he said.
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