Heap of waste stares Haridwar

| | Haridwar | in Dehradun

A day after the Kanwad Yatra ended, leaving a record of footfalls, the civic body has decided to plunge headlong into clearing the city of the huge heap of waste materials, found particularly strewn around the Kumbh area of Haridwar. It is learnt that the pilgrim figure this season touched 3.75 crore, breaking the previous records. Nearly  2.12 lakh two-wheelers and one lakh tractor trolleys with the pilgrims on came to the city during the fortnight-long pilgrimage and the upshot is the huge pile of solid waste left by them. The municipal corporation has firmed up a plan to clean the city of the garbage pile with assistance from some non-governmental organisations from August 11.     

Since 27 July till August 9, the Kanwad pilgrims had literally taken possession of the city, leaving no place untouched. The result is that the city is now grappling with over 2500 metric tonnes of waste.

Speaking to The Pioneer, municipal commissioner Dr Lalit Narayan Mishra said that they would start the cleaning work from August 11. The worst affected areas are Rodi Belwala, Pantdweep, Ranipur Jhal, Bairagi Camp, Har Ki Uari area and Pul Jatwara, he said. The commissioner, further, said that besides lifting of waste, some machines would be used to clean the lavatories.

The waste being seen include plastic waste, old clothes and different types of footwear. They are seen strewn around the ghats of Ganga which the Ganga Mahasabha volunteers are now cleaning up.  

Notably, as it rained heavily throughout the pilgrimage season, sale of polythene bags and polythene-made rain covers shot up substantially  despite NGT ban on use of plastic and polythenes. Make-shift shops came up across the city from where such items were sold with impunity.The State Government choosing to opt for a lenient attitude towards the pilgrims, the district officials were not serious in implanting the ban on such items. “They were too engaged in managing the mammoth turnout of the pilgrims to spare time for controlling the plastic menace,” says an observer.