Garbage collection yet to be streamlined in holy city

Tribune News Service

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, April 26

Though the Amritsar Municipal Corporation has been conducting a facelift and sanitation drive under the banner of “Sada Sehar Sada Mann”, irregular lifting of solid garbage by the waste management company is causing sanitation issues.

Owing to irregular lifting of garbage in the city, heaps of garbage lying at various places in the city have become an election issue. During his poll meetings, BJP candidate Taranjeet Singh regularly raised the issue of sanitation and claimed that the residents also discussed choked sewer lines and heaps of garbage with him.

However, the MC Commissioner has deployed sanitation workers to remove garbage from key locations but inner city areas and outer localities are still ignored. Residents are irked over the non-lifting of garbage by solid waste management company workers and posting pictures on the social media platforms. No MC’s sanitation wing came forward to address the complaints.

The municipal corporation has deployed five additional tractor trolleys in each assembly constituency so that the lifting of garbage from garbage collection points can be done on time and garbage does not get piled up there. According to MC officials, the company has to pay the bill for these extra tractor trollies.

As per company officials, the city generates 650 metric tonnes of garbage daily. The solid waste management company hired by the MC in 2016 wanted a hike in the tipping fee as the cost of diesel and other expenses have been raised. At present, Rs 1,314 per tonne is being taken from the corporation and the collection charges are also being collected from the houses. As the company has violated several other terms of the contract and not processing the garbage, so the MC is reluctant to give any hike.

The company claims that due to financial issues, the service is suffering. Out of 296 garbage collection vehicles of Averda company, more than 50 are lying defunct. The overall condition of vehicles is not good and most of them are worn out.

Health officials of the MC claimed that they have deployed 25 trolleys to collect garbage in the five zones along with the company. The lifting of garbage would be streamlined with extra vehicles.

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