Garbage piles back on Kol streets, a decade after compactor launch
Times of India | 28 April 2024
Kolkata: A decade after Kolkata Municipal Corporation introduced the first solid waste compactor station and modern portable compactors to clean up the city, garbage piles have made a comeback in some localities, leaving the spots filthy and stinking.
An official said the municipal commissioner had asked the solid waste management (SWM) department to address the situation and take effective steps to curb the menace.
TOI on Saturday found mounds of waste dumped on Paddapukur Road along the boundary wall of David Hare Training College in upscale Ballygunge despite the presence of a compactor station barely 800 m away. Ironically, when the compactor station had been set up opposite the Automobile Association of Eastern India office on Ballygunge Circular Road, residents of the neighbourhood had hailed it as one of the most effective initiatives of the civic body that had vastly improved their lives.
Another garbage dump was found next to the Sealdah station complex and close to Sealdah court.
Officials of the solid waste management department said they had received multiple such complaints and had started a survey to check how many such piles had sprung up and where.
The SWM department received feedback on the accumulation of garbage during some of the recently concluded episodes of ‘Talk to Mayor’, an interactive session between the mayor and citizens. An official from the department said that despite the presence of compactor stations in almost every ward and two-shift garbage collections in several parts of the city, especially in the market zones, reports of garbage accumulation were reaching the civic headquarters from specific zones. “The purpose of the survey is to identify problem areas and the reasons behind the garbage pile-up. Based on the results of the survey, we will need to take corrective steps,” said a solid waste department official.
Another official from the department said senior officials planned to take strict action against people, if they were caught red-handed throwing garbage on roads or leaving them outside their gates after the collection of household waste in the morning. “Once the survey is completed, we will take a two-prong strategy. One, if we find our infrastructure inadequate, we will upgrade it. Two, if we find our infrastructure adequate but citizens littering roads and pavements, we may penalize them,” said the official.