CHANDIGARH: The Federation of Sectors Welfare Association of Chandigarh (
FOSWAC), which is an umbrella body of around 80 Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs) of the city, held its executive committee meeting in sector 51A, Chandigarh on Sunday. Municipal commissioner
Jatender Yadev along with senior MC Officers attended the event.
Chairman of FOSWAC
Baljinder Singh Bittu said the 'Swachh Abhiyan' could not succeed without the involvement and support of the associations, which is why the results are not visible at the ground level. The foul smell of garbage processing plant at Dadumajra spreads in all the southern sectors. There is no improvement in the fucntioning for the last several years.
Bittu was very critical of the unnecessary interference of MC in connivance with some union leaders of garbage collectors. He said the MC without any control or service mechanism are disturbing the collection system run by many RWAs in the city.
"The RWA of sector 21, Chandigarh is involved in door-to-door garbage collection with monthly collection charges of Rs 45 for 10 marla, Rs 65 for 1 kanal and Rs 75 for 2 kanal houses per month per kitchen without any problem or complaint from any resident for the last 22 years. The union leaders under the patronage of MC Chandigarh are forcing a whopping amount of Rs 100 for 10 marla and Rs 250 for 1 kanal and 2 kanals per month per kitchen that too without any control over the unorganised door-to-door garbage collection proposed to be run by the garbage collectors. If the MC wants to improve this system then either they should do it themselves or float tenders. Many of the companies are interested in this collection work even without charging any amount to the residents," Bittu said.
The chairman also raised the issue of increasing encroachments in the city, some sectors like 15, 22,17,19 are very badly affected, the condition of other sectors are very bad as the corridors, balconies and footpaths are blocked by vendors. The MC has deliberately failed to implement the vendor act, which was passed some four years ago. The proposed increase in electricity and water tariff was also a blot on the residents who are already overburdened with hefty taxes imposed by the government.
Hitesh Puri, vice-chairman put forth the latest development in CHB houses. The residents are being asked to apply for conversion of lease hold to free hold along with a deposit of Rs 100 per sq. ft for any violation. Puri expressed his strong resentment on the functioning of CHB and said "There is no need of CHB as such in Chandigarh as there is no spare land available for construction. The
Housing Board has already out sourced its future projects."
Coming to the issue of proposed increase in water and electricity rates by the administration, Puri added it is not acceptable to the residents. The admuinistration should first improve their financial management before taking such a decision.
Other members of the FOSWAC also raised issues like construction of community parking need for rapid road transport system and others. The additional commissioner during the meeting clarified the basic essence to increase in rate of garbage collection was to enforce segregation and ensure better services. He also emphasised the conversion of wet garbage to compost.
Response to app is regrettable: Yadav
Municipal commissioner
Jatender Yadav regretted the poor response of the residents to downloading the cleanliness App. He also agreed that MC cannot succeed without the participation of the residents and RWAs. MC has limited resources to serve the needs of residents. They are in the process of allotment of 11000 identified spots for vendors and this process will be completed within a couple of months. He also said efforts to improve the management of tertiary water are on. He also admitted the account lapse in maintaining the account of house tax.
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