HT Chandigarh Our Take: City’s waste management system has to be fixed
Though it bettered its ranking in this year’s Survekshan at 16 from 20 last year, Chandigarh couldn’t break into the top 10 ranks of cleanest cities as the MC authorities struggle to streamline the waste collection system
Chandigarh is currently facing a crisis as waste collectors have struck work because of the municipal corporation (MC) not agreeing to their demands. What’s not helping is that the agitation comes at a time when the garbage management system is in a mess – the major reason why the city performed poorly in the Swachh Survekshan (cleanliness rankings).
Though it bettered its ranking in this year’s Survekshan at 16 from 20 last year, Chandigarh couldn’t break into the top 10 ranks of cleanest cities as the MC authorities struggle to streamline the waste collection system.
The garbage collectors’ strike should be resolved quickly. As they are opposing MC’s plans to introduce special collection vehicles that will render them jobless, plans should be drawn up to rehire some of them by teaching them driving skills to operate the vehicles and others to manage the waste.They should also be allowed to collect user charges directly from households and sell recyclable material and retain profits instead of sharing a percentage with the civic body.
The changes have to be quick. The experiment with the waste segregation plant at Dadumajra has so far been a fiasco, with the municipal corporation this year taking over from Jaypee.
One also has to see how the Solid Waste Management Vehicle Tracking and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) facility will work. Can enough revenues be generated by the user fee that MC is planning for door-to-door collection of garbage, with charges likely to be added to water bills or property tax bills?
A panel set up by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the MC corporation for complete implementation of the segregation of waste collected from door to door by October 31. Will that be done on time?
Crisis call
How can Chandigarh’s waste collection system be fixed?
The city has been performing poorly in Swachh Survekshan rankings and the garbage collectors’ strike is one part of the problem. How can things be fixed? Send your responses and photograph to chandigarh@hindustantimes.com by October 30.
