The claims by the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) about measures to improve sanitation arrangement of the town seemed hollow considering the further deterioration in the sanitation level during the festival of Holi. Piles of garbage could be seen in different localities of the State capital.
However, officials responsible for facilitating the desired level of sanitation stated that this was due to many officials being on leave. leader of opposition at MCD, Ninu Sehgal stated that MCD officials hardly seemed to be serious about their responsibilities and were failing to maintain and improving the sanitation arrangement of the city. Considering this the junior officials at MCD too have adopted an apathetic attitude towards sanitation.
He said that the sanitation employees at MCD have become lazy and don’t even bother to listen to the instructions of the senior officials.
He also claimed that MCD has already sufficient number of vehicles as well as employees and can manage the responsibility on its own but its dependency on the private firm Doon Valley Waste Management (DVWM) has negatively affected sanitation in Dehradun while the company continues to take advantage of the corporation’s dependence.
Sehgal said that MCD had a single TMS-20 garbage pick up vehicle and it was out of order state for past many months. But none of the officials of MCD were bothered to get it repaired on time, he added.
Meanwhile, secretary of Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) and acting Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari at MCD, Bansidhar Tiwari, claimed that the sanitation work was already in progress and would be continued at the routine pace after the festival as well.
He said that the committee formed for finalising the hike in the tipping fees for the DVWM company is working on its task and the tipping fees for the DVWM employees would be finalised soon.