Cleanliness fortnight MC’s cover-up act

Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 20

The Municipal Corporation (MC), Patiala, has been observing the cleanliness fortnight from January 6 to 20, but rather than collecting the waste, it has covered up garbage deposited adjacent to its office with hoardings bearing the image of the city Mayor.

At the entrance to a plot, the MC has put up a hoarding of Mayor Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, advocating the use of separate dustbins for wet and dry waste in order to keep the city clean. 

Gurpreet Singh Khaira, MC Commissioner, said the land belonged to the Patiala Urban Planning and Development Authority (PDA). “We will construct compost pits at the site after permission from the authorities concerned.” He said the discarded scrap will be auctioned and lifted from the site within a day or two.

The condition near Badungar Road and Dhob Ghat remains the same. In addition to it, sewage keeps spilling on to the road near the Improvement Trust office in Chhoti Baradari but officials of the MC have failed to take a notice of it.

At various places, including Bagichi Het Ram and Khalsa Muhalla, cow dung can be seen left in the open while stray animals keep feeding on it. Residents in the area said MC workers had been demanding money for the removal of the cow dung.