Sanitation ad-hoc committee members seek more workers

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 31

Two members of the Health and Sanitation Ad hoc Committee on Friday warned that if they were not given enough safai karamcharis for their wards, they would resign from the committee.

A meeting of the committee members with the chairman was held in which two committee members — ward No.71 councillor Satinderjit Kaur and ward No.78 councillor Jagdish Samrai — told its chairman Balraj Thakur that if in 10 days, they did not get enough number of safai karamcharis for their own wards, they would resign.

Jagdish Samrai said he had only five safai karamcharis for his ward which was a major hindrance in getting the ward cleaned. “Over the years, we have been asking them to introduce a beat system as per which the safai karamcharis will be given to every ward according to the area of the ward and there would be proper distribution,” Samrai said.

Satinderjit Kaur said hers was the biggest ward in the city and still she had only 12 safai karamcharis. “Of them, only eight come to work. I have 37 colonies in my ward and for the last two and a half years, there has been no proper cleanliness in the ward. This is not the way to lead a ward,” she said.

Both the committee members said the committee was formed so that they could raise the issues of the general public, but they would be able to help others only if they succeeded in getting a proper number of safai karamcharis for their own wards.

Notably, unequal distribution of safai karamcharis in 80 wards of the city is a big issue among councillors these days. While some wards have more than 40 safai karamcharis, others have less than 10 and residents have been grappling with the problem of lack of cleanliness and garbage in wards where there are a fewer number of safai karamcharis.