Pilot project for garbage collection in Sec 22 extended for 3 months

The pilot project for garbage collection that was implemented partially in Sector 22 has been extended for three months. The decision was taken at the Finance and Contract Committee meeting of the Municipal Corporation. It also came to light that at commercial areas where the project was implemented, money was not collected to provide the service.

The project was proposed in April. It was decided that the MC would outsource the work of garbage collection to a contractor. The contractor was to hire manpower required for door-to-door collection of garbage in residential and commercial areas. However, the door-to-door collectors, who were already working in the sectors went on a strike to protest against the decision.

The collectors stopped garbage collection across the city. Following this, it was decided that the pilot project be restricted to commercial areas in Sector 22. Trolleys for collection were hired by the MC. The employees collected garbage and dump them in the trolleys.

However, since the project was not implemented in totality, several problems are being faced. Area councillor Pardeep Chhabra, who is a member of the F&CC, said, "Piles of garbage can be seen at different places in the sector. The project aimed at collecting garbage and sending it to the garbage processing plant, instead of Sehaj Safai Kendras (SSKs). However, the garbage is still sent to the SSKs".

Chhabra added, "It further came to light that the civic body had not taken any money to collect garbage from commercial areas, despite lakhs being spent on it. The money was to be collected by adding it to the water bill. This has not been done causing huge losses to the civic body, as there are more than 500 commercial establishments in the sector".

Another member of the committee, Rajesh Gupta, contended that the officials had been asked to ensure that money was collected, so that the civic body did not run into losses due to the project.

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