Thanks to the lackadaisical attitude of the A2Z firm in timely lifting garbage and apathy of sanitation workers who dump the garbage in the open on the roadside near Gill Canal and Dugri Road, residents and commuters are a harried lot.
With the municipal corporation (MC) not acting against the firm for not keeping up with the contract and only making cosmetic arrangements for garbage management, residents continue to be subjected to filth and health hazards due to the garbage dumps. But, their pleas continue to fall on deaf ears.
When the contract between Ludhiana MC and A2Z company was signed in 2011, it was mandated that garbage be lifted from each and every home in all 75 wards of the city and transported to a main dump outside the city.
But as the firm failed to do that, the civic body allowed sweepers to lift garbage from each house and dump it at these dumping points, from where the A2Z firm could lift it and take to the main dumping ground. But A2Z has failed to even do that. Despite this, authorities continue to turn a blind eye to the menace, forcing
residents and commuters to bear the brunt.
Commuters complain that the garbage dumps are located close to traffic lights, as a result when they stop at the red light, they are subjected to filth and stench. Therefore, they are often forced to take alternative routes.
Residents claim that they had taken up the matter with Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal at a sangat darshan in Chandigarh recently. But in vain.
Commuters complain that the garbage dumps are located close to traffic lights, as a result when they stop at the red light, they are subjected to filth and stench. Therefore, they are often forced to take alternative routes.
Residents claim that they had taken up the matter with Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal at a sangat darshan in Chandigarh recently. But in vain.
Several leaders have also staged protests in front of the dump which is situated near Gill Canal. KK Bawa, a senior Congress leader said, “Several Congress leaders have protested demanding removal of the dump situated near Gill Canal as the dump was not maintained properly. The municipal corporation needs to get its act right as residents have been suffering for the past several years.”
Residents also claim that the garbage dump was a safe haven for some drug addicts, who often created nuisance in the area.
They add that they had themselves tried to clean the area, but the sanitation workers continue to haphazardly dump the garbage there.