Monday, 22 November 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
A lot more is needed to improve things – Denizens
Though Dehradun has become the first city in Uttarakhand to rank in the top 100 cleanest cities in Swachh Survekshan 2021 by securing 82nd position, locals opined that lots of things are yet to be done to make the city clean and garbage free. Many locals and activists opined that there is no considerable improvement in the sanitation conditions of the city and some even claimed that the situation has worsened in the past year. “The door to door garbage collection service is not regular. When they collect the garbage, the sanitation workers do not keep dry and wet garbage separately. There is a substantial increase in single-use plastic usage in the post-Covid-19 period. Roadside garbage accumulation has become a major issue in most of the areas of the city. I wish that the improvement we have witnessed in the ranking can be achieved at the ground level too,” said an Adhoiwala resident, Abhay Saini.
Dehradun based activist Lokesh Ohri stated that he has not observed any systematic change in the sanitation conditions of the city and according to him, it has become rather worse. “I have observed many garbage collecting workers dumping the garbage in isolated areas of the city. Waste is not being managed here properly after waste collection which is crucial to maintain sanitation in the city. No concrete initiatives are being taken to restrict the use of plastic which has increased in recent times,” said Ohri. He asserted that the authorities concerned need to work more stringently on these points to make noticeable improvements in Dehradun.
Anoop Nautiyal, a social activist and founder of the Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation also said that despite the improved ranking of Dehradun, cleanliness and waste management remains a major challenge here. He said that though he sees Doon’s jump from 124th position to 82nd position as a step forward, a lot remains to be done by authorities concerned and citizens to make the city garbage-free. Talking about Dehradun achieving 82nd position in SS-21, the mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ said that the sanitation team of the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) worked hard to bring the city in the top 100 cleanest cities. He said that the corporation is consistently working on improving the sanitation conditions of the city at every level. He said, “The Corporation increased the number of public toilets in every possible area of the city this year and started door to door garbage collection services in all the wards. We are also working in minimising the usage of single-use plastic in the city and hopefully, we will be in the top 50 cleanest cities in SS22.”
It is noteworthy to mention here that unlike Dehradun, the positions of Haridwar, Haldwani and Kashipur have fallen down in the ranking this year. According to the cleanliness index, Haridwar slipped to 285th position this year from 246th in 2020, Haldwani dropped to 281st position against 229th position last year and Kashipur slipped to 342nd position from 139th last year making it the dirtiest city in the state.
