Heavy showers wash away cleanliness drive, plastic waste blocks roads in Shimla
SHIMLA: Not even a week has passed since the state government announced a campaign to make Himachal plastic free and plastic waste from open nullahs can be seen flowing on roads and clogged drains after rainfall in and around capital town — Shimla.
Heaps of plastic waste flowed on streets and roads in Shimla along with the rain water. Traffic on Shimla-Tutikandi-Dhalli bypass was hampered as plastic debris flowed on roads leading to road blockage. Plastic trash piled on roads, blocking traffic on highway.
“Mounds of plastic flew on the road from nullah flowing below Inder Nagar on bypass between Khalini and Lal Pani area,” taxi driver Karan Singh said.
“Plastic waste littered on bypass just below Knolls Wood Housing Colony. It took us nearly four hours to clear the road off debris. Plastic trash flowing on the road is almost frequent during the rains,” supervi- sor of the private company which maintains the bypass road, Pradeep Kumar said.
“Time to time appeals have been made to people living upstream to not throw plastic waste in nullah but to no avail,” Beer Bhadur said, a labourer who cleaned up roads near Lal Pani.
Shimla mayor Kusum Sadrate attributed the problem to dumping of household waste in nullahs. “Many residents in the town do not have door to door waste collection and when they dump the domestic waste in the nullah, it consequently flows down the road during rains,” mayor Kusum Sadrate said. “We will again launch campaign to clean up nullahs and drains. MC will set up a team to cater to the complaints of clogged drains and nullahs,” she said.