Saturday, 13 JANUARY 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) will install CCTV cameras at the sites where people continue to throw garbage despite the removal of dustbins from there. Based on the data received through CCTV, MCD will take action against offenders as per the rules, the chief municipal health officer Dr Avinash Khanna said. Though the MCD has started removing garbage bins to make the city dustbin-free, heaps of garbage can be observed in several areas of the city. People who used to dispose of garbage in these dustbins are now dumping the garbage on the ground at the same sites. Many locals and activists have opined that this plan of the corporation will probably take a considerable amount of time to show a significant impact at ground level. According to them, authorities concerned are yet to strengthen other garbage collection-related facilities across the city like garbage segregation at source and door to door garbage collection. The district administration also received some complaints of irregular door to door garbage collection service in the recent survey conducted on the directions of Dehradun district magistrate and MCD administrator Sonika. A resident Lokjit Singh who lives in Balbir Road from where the corporation removed a dustbin a few months ago said that people continue to throw garbage there irrespective of the unavailability of dustbin there. “I am glad that the bin was removed from here but many people, especially those who commute through cars and two-wheelers continue to throw garbage there, especially at night. The garbage collection vehicles collect it in one or two days and this cycle continues. Since nearby people, shopkeepers and vendors have started questioning people who dump their garbage there on the ground, many feel ashamed and do not do it. The garbage dumping has also reduced there with time but has not stopped yet. We cannot pay attention to every commuter there day and night,” said Singh. Talking about the issue, Khanna said that the MCD has so far removed dustbins from about 15 places and is aware of the issue. The corporation is taking concrete steps to prevent it. He said, “We have deployed sanitation workers in some areas to keep an eye on offenders to prevent them from dumping garbage in the open. Besides this, we are now marking places to install CCTV cameras to monitor such places too. We will initially install CCTV in at least seven places in the city.” He added that MCD initially removed dustbins from Rajpur Road near Silver City where people continued to dump garbage as well. However, this practice has stopped there after months of the sanitation team’s hard work. “I am certain that MCD can achieve the same result in other areas as well with people’s support,” he added.
