As stink goes up, Chandigarh MC mellows down - Hindustan Times
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As stink goes up, Chandigarh MC mellows down

Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By, Chandigarh
Sep 21, 2018 11:03 AM IST

Civic body agrees to consider unregistered waste collectors for job; number of trolleys for waste gathering increased.

 Office-goers in the city nowadays carry an additional baggage these days — packets of house waste. Since the door-to-door collection of garbage no more exists, they look for roadside bins to dispose the waste of. Not surprising that roadside bins are spilling over and piles of garbage can be seen strewn around them, raising a stink.

Garbage strewn along the road near the main market in Sector 33, Chandigarh.(SS Chopra/HT)
Garbage strewn along the road near the main market in Sector 33, Chandigarh.(SS Chopra/HT)

The municipal corporation on the other hand is adamant on its stand to take control of the waste management and is taking steps to ease the situation. But going by the pace of decisions are being taken, it will take a long time before things normalise in the city.

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Softening its stand on the employability aspect of waste collectors, the municipal corporation on Thursday conveyed to the protesters that they were ready to adjust even unregistered waste collectors, subject to their ground verification and checking of their credentials by the health and sanitation department. With this, the MC may offer jobs to about 2,000 waste collectors.

Earlier, the MC was offering contractual job to only 1,447 registered waste collectors after taking control of waste collection, a decision taken in the general house meeting on September 14. The decision sparked protests as waste collectors stopped the door-to-door garbage collection, causing chaos in the city.

Efforts on, but MC struggling on ground

Under pressure from residents and protesters, the MC on Thursday deployed 70 track trolleys, 20 more than Wednesday, but is still struggling to collect waste from all households. President of Resident Welfare Association of Modern Housing Complex in Manimajra, Colonel (retd) Gursewak Singh said that they have 3,000 houses.

“In last two days, 90% of the waste has been cleared through the trolleys deputed by MC. But we want deployment one more additional vehicle to further ease the situation,” he said.

Sector 20 RWA president OP Verma said there are practical issues with trolleys collecting the waste as they can’t reach door-to-door. “People have to come out to throw the garbage. I have told MC officials to depute smaller vehicles so that at least it enters inner lanes.” 

Gurdev Ahluwalia, president of RWA in Sector 32, said the step taken by MC to take control of garbage collection is good but they must streamline the system fast until. “They should send vehicles as early as 8am keeping the office-goers in mind,” he said.

Other RWAs are asking the MC to clear the roadside waste at the earliest since there is forecast for rain from September 22, which may pose danger of outbreak of diseases.

Meanwhile, nearly 100 waste collectors held a peaceful protest at Dadumajra dumping ground. They were stopping MC vehicles for the last two days, following which police detained them. On Thursday, they did not stop the vehicles.

Situation improving: MC chief

MC commissioner KK Yadav said they were aware of the problems being faced by the residents and gradually increasing the resources.

On Friday, the number of trolleys will increase to 90 and in next few days, the number will go up to 150 to make sure that at least two trolleys are deputed in every sector on daily basis. He said that they were also preparing a time-table of these vehicles so that people know in advance.

300 waste collectors apply for MC job

The MC on Thursday opened the registration of waste collectors for job, at its office in Sector 17. Nearly 300 people have submitted their documents. Of them, 55 were registered waste collectors and rest were unregistered.

MC officials were hopeful that more people will apply in the coming days.

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