Vacant places under municipality become garbage ground

Even as the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun works to ensure the desired level of civic sanitation in the existing wards, the areas recently brought under the purview of the corporation pose another major challenge. Due to lack of proper garbage disposal systems in various localities in suburban Dehradun, vacant places have been turned into open-air dumps.

It should be mentioned here that more than 300 metric tonnes of solid municipal waste is estimated to be generated in Dehradun on a daily basis. There has been some improvement in the garbage disposal system in the city but the suburban and semi-rural areas which were recently brought under the purview of the municipal corporation pose another major challenge to the authorities when it comes to ensuring proper garbage disposal. In such areas, due to lack of regulated garbage disposal system, various public spaces have been con verted into open-air garbage dumps. One such site can be seen near the vegetable market in Kidduwala area along the road linking Nehru Colony area to the Raipur ring road. A site on the roadside has been converted into an open-air garbage dump with the garbage spread down to the wooded gully in the area. All types of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste are dumped openly at this site which also attracts stray dogs, cattle and pigs looking for food. The once clean and green location has been degenerated into a public health risk due to illegal garbage dumping. There are vendors selling fruits and vegetables, fast food and other items in the area. A local resident, Arpit Singh said that the site was not this bad some years ago. Children from the neighborhood used to play in that area as it was free from traffic and is wooded. However as the population and constructions grew, the people started dumping garbage in this area. People from other areas too dump garbage at this site while passing by. A shopkeeper, Virendra Uniyal said that nobody in the area really appears to be bothered about this problem. Even after repeated requests, the officials concerned have done little to improve the situation.

The site is cleaned up when a ‘VIP’ is visiting or passing by but the garbage returns soon after. The door to door collection of garbage is not well regulated in the area due to which the locals continue to dump their garbage improperly at this site. The authorities should strictly enforce the rules to prevent such areas from degenerating due to illegal garbage dumping, he stressed.

Talking about the issue, the Dehradun municipal commissioner Vijay Kumar Jogdande said that the MCD is in the process of further improving the door to door garbage collection service which is also being extended. This is the basic step for ensuring that the people do not dump garbage illegally but dispose it properly as required. So far action has been taken against about 200 people with about Rs 5,00,000 being collected in penalty from such people found dumping garbage improperly.