Gwalior turning into giant garbage dump

Gwalior is fast becoming one huge garbage dump. The city’s waste management woes are more severe than one can imagine with the civic body continuing to follow a flawed system of waste disposal and management.

While the officials at the Municipal Corporation claim that there is facility for door to door collection of garbage the ground reality is that the facility is available only in 22 wards out of the total 66 wards. The remaining 44 wards have no cleaners or sanitary workers and garbage trucks are rarely seen here with the open spaces filled with garbage and flies.

According to statistics, the daily generation of garbage in the city is 400 tons, out of which only 250 tons is collected and disposed of.  The remaining 150 tons is flung on roads and empty spaces aiding flies and mosquitoes to throng over piles of foul smelling compost while the residents continue their agonizing wait for the civic authorities to bring about some change.

To make matters worse the company that was entrusted with the task of waste management has stopped work due to some mix-up with the civic bodyand no alternate arrangements have been put in place. At present the garbage is disposed of in the mines situated near Shankarpur- Bara. Even the SwarnaRekha and Morar streams are filled with foul smelling garbage.

Another worry is the emission of highly toxic components of sewer gases from the accumulated garbage.  It may not be an exaggeration to say that another disaster like the Bhopal gas tragedy might occur if the municipal authorities don’t take steps to control the gas originating from garbage dumped in various places.

Talking to the media persons, ML Daulatani, Retired Assistant Commissioner of the Gwalior Municipal Corporation said that awareness campaigns about cleanliness must be carried out throughout the year instead of the current three months. He also said that assistance of industrial houses and business establishments must be sought to ensure that there is proper waste management in the city.