The State capital appeared comparatively cleaner and pot-holed roads in different localities were repaired overnight in view of the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Dehradun on Monday. However, citizens and municipal councilors alike have been complaining about the anomalies in the garbage collection and disposal system in operation in the State capital.
Though the main roads and areas through which the President’s motorcade passed were clean and roads repaired on Monday, the people of Dehradun and municipal councilors have been repeatedly complaining about anomalies in civic sanitation. They have been complaining that the Doon Valley Waste Management (DVWM) company does not collect garbage from all the areas it is supposed to. Councillors of Dhamawala, Gandhi Gram and various other wards complain that garbage is not being collected from homes regularly and that the shortage of sanitation workers in the municipal wards was preventing regular cleaning of the localities and roadside drains.
The Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (MNA) Ashok Kumar did try to improve the functioning of the company and spruce up the garbage disposal system by forming committees to monitor sanitation in the wards and monitor the activities of the company. However, this has not yielded concrete results so far. The Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli has already said that it is not fair to simply blame the company for anomalies in civic sanitation works as factors related to the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun also contribute to the situation.
Many councillors across party lines are unhappy with the working of the company and municipal machinery when it comes to maintaining civic sanitation. However, on seeing the level of sanitation in areas likely to be on the route of the President’s motorcade, many questioned as to what prevents the municipal and district authorities from maintaining such a level of cleanliness in the State capital on a regular basis.