Despite the much-hyped Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan supposedly going on in full swing across the country, the plight of the State capital Dehradun has remained the same. The denizens complain that the civic body’s flawed planning in dealing with the garbage collected around the city is behind dustbins overflowing in many important places -something that exist as festering scars on the body of the city.
"The streets are clean but the roadside dustbins in many colonies are over-flowing most of the time," rued housewife Anita Singh. This is fatal for the animals too as these dustbins which are the birthplace of many diseases have now become home for street dogs and cows, especially outside the railway station and ISBT, she added.
"It is a pity that no attention is being paid to the cleanliness of the places like the railway station, ISBT, public parks and grounds. Dustbins are over-flowing with garbage, polluting the area,” said college student Rohan Garg.
Garbage collected from the colonies or streets is being dumped in these dustbins and they are cleaned once in a blue moon. This not just looks bad but spawns diseases, especially during the monsoon, he added.
However, senior city health officer, Municipal Corporation, Dehradun R K Singh has assured that the dustbins will be cleaned at the earliest. “We have eight trucks to collect garbage from across the city, but currently only five/six of them are functional. We have asked the higher authorities to provide us with more vans/trucks. We are also focusing on improving the drainage system," he informed.
The vans/workers collecting garbage from the residential areas dump the garbage in these dustbins which leads to over-flowing of garbage. But we would address the matter and the areas will be cleaned soon, he added.
City residents complain about the stink the unattended dustbins emit. “It is difficult to walk due to the overpowering stench and the fear of infections. Things turn more serious when it rains. The garbage comes out right on the road, compounding the mess further," said Parul who resides near Parade Ground. Drain are blocked as major part of the over-flowing garbage falls into them and the workers take ages to clean them, she said.
Speaking about the status of the workers engaged by the corporation Singh said, “Their strike over the past few days doubtless worsened things. But as the strike has ended things would be back on track soon,” he added.