A day after Diwali the city wore a ‘waste dumping yard’ look in most of the localities. Garbage collectors were absent from their daily job. Toxic substances added more to the dumped wastes. The Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) accepted the absence of labourers but assured to collect the wastes from Saturday onwards.
Residents at Hinoo, Kadru, Kokar and Chutia had to face a lot of difficulties in crossing the areas dumped with such wastes. “The waste collector has not collected the wastes of our colony since Wednesday. We have no other option except bearing the smell of the wastes,” Sharmishtha said a resident of Hinoo.
Similarly, Jaspreet Kaur residing near Star International School at Kokar said, “The collectors were punctual to be present at our home on Thursday despite Diwali. But, today they failed to collect the wastes. The burnt crackers are thrown around boundary walls of the colony.”
Interestingly, denizens of Tharpakhna South Samaj followed the ongoing ‘Clean India’ drive wherein they collected wastes and burned them together. Also, they threw the remains by sweeping in front of their homes. “like every year, we knew waste collectors will not come after Diwali. So, we decided to clean our lanes adopting the Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan. It is useless to contact RMC during festivals,” said Jawahar Vidya Mandir’s former teacher Sikta Choudhary.
On the other hand, some of the ward councilors were unaware about such problems. “We received complaints from Manitola and airport areas. Those are solved. Hopefully, the other lanes of our ward have also been cleaned by the supervisor. I am not sure,” said councilor of ward number-52.
Councilor of ward-40 Suman Devi said that she is on leave and will solve the complaints after returning from her native village.
Meanwhile, RMC’s Chief Executive Officer Manoj Kumar informed ‘maintaining cleanliness is a daily phenomenon of his labourers.’ “Fifty per cent of our labourers are absent today due to Kali Puja fasting on Thursday night. The remaining ones have continued their cleanliness work at chhath ghats. I assure to send labourers for collecting wastes in all the wards from Saturday onwards,” he said.
Focusing on the health hazards due to the burnt crackers, medical specialists felt that wastes should not be dumped for long under any circumstances. “The wastes of crackers if kept for a long time can cause dust allergy, cardiac problems, sinus and headache. It is because of the aluminum and nitrate composition used in preparing the crackers,” Dr Shilpa Verma, a dental surgeon of Birsa Chowk said.