PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
Dehradun Citizens Forum (DCF) on Saturday raised ongoing waste management issues in the city and called for Dehradun free of garbage and the illegal burning of waste. The forum also launched the Safai Mitram mobile application aimed at improving accountability in civic services.
Addressing a Press conference, DCF members expressed concern over what they described as a gap between official claims and the ground situation. The forum, which includes over 500 residents including professionals, environmentalists and business owners, pointed to problems like uncollected garbage, poorly managed dumping sites and instances of open waste burning across different parts of the city.
Members said that they have raised these issues with authorities through platforms such as Mayor Samvad and public meetings, but added that visible improvements have been limited. While engagement with officials has continued, they said that the concrete and time-bound action is still awaited.
Forum representatives, including Jagmohan Mendiratta, Retu Chatterjee, Ramana Kumar and Nitin Shah, highlighted concerns over weak implementation and lack of follow-up despite repeated communication with the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD).
To address the issue, the forum partnered with the Convergent Defence Foundation (CDF) to develop the Safai Mitra app. The platform allows residents to report complaints such as garbage accumulation, missed door-to-door collection and waste burning. These complaints will be directly forwarded to the authorities.
Social activist Anoop Nautiyal said that the initiative is intended to strengthen citizen participation and improve last-mile accountability rather than replace existing systems. He also referred to previous reports, alleging inconsistencies in the functioning of the MCD. Nautiyal urged the civic body and the Mayor’s office to take concrete and time-bound steps to address the concerns. It maintained that while citizen-led efforts can support the system, sustained administrative action is necessary to resolve the issue.
