Open dumping of garbage: Two years on, wrinkle-nosed Ludhiana’s residents await static compactors
An official, requesting anonymity, said the project was mooted in 2018 but the MC is yet to install compactors at 22 sites at different parts of the city in the first phase.
Two years after the municipal corporation decided to install static compactors under the smart city mission, the project is yet to be commenced.
Around 1,100 metric tonnes of garbage is generated in the city on a daily basis and is dumped in the open at 50 odd secondary dumping points across the city before being shifted to the main dumping site on Tajpur Road.
Many of the secondary dump sites are situated near residential areas, including posh areas of Sarabha Nagar and Civil Lines.
Residents say open dumping of garbage raises a stink and also encourages stray cattle and dogs to throng the areas.
Satinder Singh, a shopkeeper at the scooter market in Model Town, says, “We have been flagging open dumping of garbage under the bus stand flyover for long time. The dump is situated near our market and it is difficult to work with foul stench emanating from the dump.”
COMPACTORS AWAITED AT 22 SITES
An official, requesting anonymity, said the project was mooted in 2018 but the MC is yet to install compactors at 22 sites at different parts of the city in the first phase.
“A financial bid has been initiated for finalising a contractor. But there are legal aspects to be kept in mind regarding finalising contractors for operating and maintaining the compactor sites. The MC is already in agreement with A2Z firm for lifting garbage,” the official said.
Mayor Balkar Sandhu said, “I had also taken up the matter during the meeting of board of directors at Ludhiana Smart City Limited (LSCL) at Chandigarh on Wednesday as officials have been delaying the project. They have been told to expedite the project.”
LIT AWAITS BS-VI VEHICLES
Even after completing civil work at six of eight sites in west constituency, the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) has failed to make static compactors operational in absence of BS-VI vehicles which are required to lift garbage out of compactors and shift the same to the main dump site.
LIT had commenced the project in May last year.
LIT executive engineer Buta Ram said, “Civil work has been completed at six out of eight sites and compactors have also been installed at a few sites. The BS-VI vehicles have to be purchased from the GeM Portal. The vehicles are not available yet. It is expected that they will arrive in a week or so, following which the compactor sites will be handed over to the MC in around a month.”