But, rain may create a mess
NO ACTION YET Mayor promised a special drive, but many areas still dotted with garbage
LUCKNOW: Though the Met department’s forecast has come as a huge relief for Lucknowites, it also brings some worries for them. Reason: Garbage still lying on the roadsides is likely to become a huge mess after it rains, thereby posing health hazard for citizens.
Faizabad Road, Indira Nagar, Alambagh, Kharika, Natkhera, Mahana g ar, Vikas Na g ar, Daliganj-Mankmeshwar road and Lalkuan have become ‘stink zones’ in the absence of a proper garbage disposal system.
On May 22, when Hindustan Times launched a ‘clean city’ campaign, the mayor had promised a special drive in dirty areas. But till date there has been no action. However, mayor Dinesh Sharma said he was committed to the ‘Clean Lucknow’ campaign, which would be launched soon.
“It seems that the mayor has no blueprint to rid the city of garbage,” said Congress corporator Girish Mishra.
He added, “As a mark of tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to start a campaign to make cities clean. But in Lucknow, the mayor has no focus on this initiative. He is busy attending inauguration ceremonies.”
The failure of LMC in handling dirt can be gauged by the fact that their landfill site at Shivri is still not ready for disposal of 1,500 tonnes waste produced by the city every day. Additional municipal commissioner PK Srivastava admitted that some more time would be required to make the landfill site operational. The work is on at the site since 2007. At present, the LMC is dumping garbage on the outskirts of the city. At some places on Hardoi road, residents have chased away the corporation’s trucks for spilling filth in their area.
Civic authorities admit that 55 out of 110 wards in Lucknow still do not have any garbage collection system in place. As a result, garbage is growing by heaps and bounds each day.
Worse still, the system to dispose of biomedical waste from various hospitals and nursing homes in the city has crashed.
In all, around four tonnes of biomedical waste is dumped in various corners of the city on a daily basis without any care and this can contribute to the spread of epidemics during the rainy season.