Chamba township in Tehri district is fast losing its charm. The garbage being dumped on the National Highway’s Dharasu Road stretch is making the place turn into a source of a number of communicable diseases. Besides, in spite of tourists arriving all the year round, nothing is being done to provide them with the facilities they deserve. Rather, they are being forced to put up with the stink and health hazards resulting from the garbage pileup. People have been demanding the removal of the garbage dump for years, but to no avail.
When sun comes out after the rains, things become the worst. The decomposing mass releases an overpowering stink that sickens the locals as well as the passer-by. Already, conjuctivitis and other diseases are catching hold in the area. As the dump is situated on the National Highway, people from other places who commute through it are being affected too. Besides, hundreds of school children who commute along the stretch are being exposed to afflictions. Residents say garbage has become an overwhelming presence everywhere owing to the crumbling waste management system in the town.
“Piles of garbage are to be found any day at various places along Rishikesh Road and Mussoorie Road. The garbage attracts hordes of monkeys which are turning into a menace for us,” said one of them. Another said Chamba which is sought to be developed as a tourist destination deserves better than what it has been receiving from the authorities concerned. “The dumping of garbage along the highway is making the place vulnerable to landslides,” he said.
Social activist Sanjay Maithany warned that if the authority keeps on sleeping over the problem they would go for a vigorous agitation to make them sit up. “Things are turning intolerable. The people are bearing the brunt of the authority’s apathy,” he said.
When quizzed over the matter, the executive officer of the Nagar Panchayat Chamba, Ailam Das said that they had demanded land from the forest department to set up a trenching ground.