Mera Kooda Nahi Utha”; if there was one issue that pretty much united the whole city, it was the non-collection of garbage. Team Ecogreen seemed to have completely gone missing in action. And for days. The issue was compounded by the city’s lack of willingness to segregate their waste. Heaps and mounds of mixed waste lay unattended. And for days on end.
So what exactly caused this to happen? Other than some internal tussle between the collection agency and the municipal corporation, there was another responsible factor. The recent episode of violence and rioting in the Nuh District not only caused unrest across cities but also resulted in the Muslim population of these places leaving in droves. Most of us may not be aware but the majority of the workers hired by the garbage collection agency belong to this community and as the fear of violence spread, they preferred seeking safety in their native places. This resulted in the entire garbage collection chain nearly collapsing.
To deal with this burning issue, the Malibu Federation brought in a private vendor and placed mesh bins in many areas. Those households that had garbage piled up for days were told to leave the trash bags in these bins. The vehicles of the agency were called in every 2-3 days and cleared the bins. The exercise came at a cost of Rs.900/visit and an assurance by the vendor that they would be emptying their vehicles at the secondary collection points authorised by the municipal corporation.
The city has hopefully, by now realized the importance of maintaining communal harmony as well as segregation and composting. Amen!
Very Important issue. I hope more people do segregation at source.