Southern sectors of Chandigarh complain of wild grass growing on pavements

Every monsoon season, the growth of wild grass goes unchecked in the city and residents of southern sectors complain they are the worst hit.

The pavements and berms on the roads of many southern sectors are overgrown with wild grass making them unusable, putting pedestrians at risk.

As per traffic police data, in 2019 the number of accidents involving pedestrians went up to 36, the highest since 2016. Many of these accidents could have been averted if the victims were on the footpath and not on the main road.

Highlighting the issue, general secretary of the Sector 40C resident welfare association (RWA) SK Khosla said, “We seniors feel scared having to walk on the main road as the footpaths are covered with grass. Every year, we have the same complaint.” Khosla said that after lodging numerous complaints for around two weeks, the grass of the footpath near his house was cut, but the rest of the sector still remained overgrown.

BREEDING PLACE FOR MOSQUITOES, REPTILES

Sector 48 paints a similar picture. President of the RWA here JJ Singh said, “The wild grass is so thick on some roads that snakes can hide in them. Lots of mosquitoes and other insects also breed here. During monsoon, trimming the grass once a month is not enough; it should be done twice or thrice for each sector.”

Chairman of the Chandigarh Residents Association Welfare Federation (CRAWFED), Hitesh Puri, said that the problem was limited to the southern sectors. “In the northern sectors, the grasses are trimmed regularly. Why should southern sectors with higher population density suffer just because the officers live in the northern sectors,” he asked.

In Sector 44 as well, residents complained of wild grass growing near the market here. A member of the Sector 44C RWA, Sudershan Joshi, said that the residents felt unsafe walking to the market, especially during the night with the large patches of grass growing on the footpaths.

BRUSH CUTTERS INVALID IN MONSOON

Pruning of wild grass is carried out by Lions Services, a private firm. General manager Pradyuman Bakshi said, “During the monsoon, brush cutters can’t be used for trimming grass. Any moisture damages the blades which is why sometimes the work gets held up. Many times people don’t move their vehicles that are parked on the berms while the machines are being used. As a result, small stones are flung at great speeds at the cars sometimes causing damage. Many people have even filed claims for damaged windows and windshields. Now, we don’t cut the grass till the time vehicles are not moved.”

As per contract, they are supposed to cut grass in a sector only once a month, but some councillors ask for favours, Bakshi said, adding that complaints when received had to be dealt with, due to which they were unable to streamline operations, he added. Lions Services owns 30 brush cutters for catering to 30 sectors of the city.