PAC members protest over poor waste management

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 21

Raising the issue of poor solid waste management, Public Action Committee (PAC) for the Sutlej and Mattewara, along with some residents, staged a protest in front of the Zone D office of the Municipal Corporation for one hour on Monday. This was in follow up to their selfie point photoshoot with garbage near the Model Town extension garbage dump yesterday.

They demanded better solid waste management in ‘smart city’ Ludhiana. The protesters said there were hundreds of illegal solid waste dumping points across the city which were overflowing with a mixture of wet waste and plastic waste and had not only become eyesores but also a source of bad odour and breeding grounds for flies and mosquitoes.

The dumps are filled with single use plastics also which is banned in the state. The state of affairs raises a strong question mark on the performance of the municipal authorities on the front. Some sanitary officers came to meet them at the protest site and gave assurances but they also acknowledged that there is a huge problem as far as the waste management of the city is concerned.

Kapil Arora of Council of Engineers said: “In the District Environment Plan submitted to the NGT monitoring committee, the municipal authorities have made tall claims about there being no illegal secondary dumps in the city and 50 per cent segregation of plastic and kitchen waste being achieved. Nothing of that sort is visible on the ground. We will continue our protests and send our reports to the NGT to ensure that lies of the municipal officers are nailed.”

Kuldeep Singh Khaira of the Vigilant Citizens’ Forum said: “This problem is across the city and there is no workable action plan with the authorities. We have decided to do hold the next protest on the coming Sunday in front of the Mayor’s residence.”

Gurpreet Singh of the PAC said: “More and more citizens should get involved in such protests so that government officers do not take citizens for granted.”

Jaskirat Singh of the PAC said: “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should give high priority to issues concerning the environment.”

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