Chandigarh: FOSWAC opposes new garbage collection system

Talking about the inflated water bills, the Chairman expressed his anger Municipal Corporation and the Chandigarh Administration for imposing highly inflated water bills despite the assurance given to FOSWAC representatives.

THE Federation of Sectors Welfare Associations of Chandigarh, in an executive meeting held on Sunday, opposed the new system of waste collection kicked off by Municipal Corproation stating that “system was started in a haste.”

The meeting was attended by representatives of almost 52 Resident Welfare Associations.

Baljinder Singh Bittu, Chairman FOSWAC, took up the issue of door-to-door garbage collection which the Municipal Corporation took over in sectors 1-20 from December 22. “The scheme was implemented in haste without consulting the RWAs which have been managing door-to-door garbage collection for more than two decades. In the past three days most RWAs have been flooded with complaints about the collection vehicle not arriving,” said Bittu.

He added, “Even the Municipal Corporation has not set up any system of grievance redressal. The carrying capacity of vehicles has been reduced to less than half of its original capacity due to the faulty design of the garbage bins installed in these vehicles. There is no hydraulic system in the vehicles, due to which wet garbage is removed manually by the workers.”

Bittu suggested the garbage collection vehicles should function under the respective RWAs at the existing rates, as the proposed rates are much higher.

Col Gursewak Singh from RWA, Sector 13 (MHC), said the newly-implemented garbage collection system is showing signs of failure, as each block in their area consist of many flats and it’s almost impossible for each resident to come out to put garbage in the MC vehicles. He further said the reconstitution of wards is unjustified and politically motivated.

Prof A S Bhatia from the Citizens’ Association, Sector 21 said that the newly implemented garbage collection scheme is full of flaws and the Association is receiving hundreds of complaints from sector residents as their kitchen garbage is not lifted by the vehicles, adding that even collection rates are much higher than the existing rates.

Talking about the inflated water bills, the Chairman expressed his anger Municipal Corporation and the Chandigarh Administration for imposing highly inflated water bills despite the assurance given to FOSWAC representatives. Even the MC House had recommended reducing the unjustified increase in water tariff, but the new rates were still imposed, which clearly shows that the elected representatives have no voice in the Municipal Corporation, he said.

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