Garbage mounds raise a stink, is anyone listening?

Ajay Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, November 2

Tonnes of garbage remained piled up in the city for the third consecutive day due to the silent strike being observed by the Municipal Corporation’s Sanitation Workers’ Union here on Monday.

While there wasn’t any formal agitation by workers, the garbage lifting process was halted on Saturday and Sunday. Even on Monday, the lifting was done around 12 pm.

Apart from condemning the MC authorities for not fulfilling their demands, sanitation workers said the lack of dumping space at Wariana dumping ground, which is the main dumping ground, had raised an alarm in the city. They said they were forced to lift limited amount of garbage from various dumping sites for the past few weeks. The condition of the main dumping ground of the district had worsened to such an extent that it was taking more than two hours to unload a garbage-laden truck.

Rakesh, one of the sanitation workers, said: “It was difficult to move across the path leading to the Wariana dumping ground due to the debris that has accumulated. It has reached up to the knee level. Hence, workers have to wait for hours to unload the junk.”

Moninder Pal Singh, a commuter, said: “Owing to this, commuters are at the receiving end as the accumulated garbage not only raises stink, but also occupies half of the road.” Heaps of garbage could be seen at the dumping sites of Plaza Chowk and fish market as well. Although lifting was conducted on Monday, a huge quantity of unlifted garbage still reflected a poor sight. Moreover, dumping areas have become a breeding ground for stray animals, causing inconvenience to the public living in nearby areas.

The union members, had allegedly halted the lifting process due to the prevailing uncertainty over the regularisation of sanitation workers.

Shami Luthra, vice-president, Sanitation Workers Drivers Union, said: “The MC officials have failed to repair vehicles used in the lifting process and are forcing us to conduct zone-wise lifting. Around four months ago, when the Balraj Thakur Committee was formed, we were assured that we would be paid extra for working on weekends. However, nothing has been done so far. Therefore, we preferred not to work on weekend. In addition, the demands of regularising drivers and repairing vehicles have also been not been considered yet. The department should not be privatised.”