The door-to-door waste collection by Dibrugarh Muncipal Board (DMB) has come to a total halt after one of the private NGOs left their work without informing the DMB.
On June 1, 2018, DMB launched the initiative of door-to-door collection of garbage from households, commercial establishments and government offices of the town.
Garbage disposal is one of the major problems of the town because it lacks a solid waste management project.
Dibrugarh town, on an average, generates around 62 metric tonnes of solid waste everyday and the task of collecting the waste was allotted to a few NGOs and with the help of the board’s sanitation workers they collect the wastes but one of the NGOs engaged in the job left the work without any information.
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Anjali Paul, a housewife said, “For the last one week, DMB workers are not coming to collect the household wastes. We don’t know why the service has been stopped. We paid Rs 60 per month and they collected the household wastes from us. Now, we are facing problem to dump our household wastes as I have to go outside in search of dustbins because there is no dustbin near our residence.”
Meanwhile, the DMB is facing a tough time to solve the garbage problem of Dibrugarh.
The door-to-door waste collection was started in all the 22 wards of Dibrugarh Muncipal Board. Total 25 e-rickshaws and 15 tricycles were given to DMB for waste collection.
“DMB is paying Rs 90,000 to the NGOs for each ward for collecting door-to-door wastes and they are also collecting Rs 60 from every house. Instead of giving the money to the NGOs, DMB should give money to the civic workers because they are not getting their salary for the last 13 months and as a result they remain absent for maximum times. The salary problem of civic workers should be solved because it is a big problem for the DMB,” Amit Singh, ward commissioner of 17 No Ward said.
DMB chairperson Soma Chakraborty said that without informing them, one of the private NGOs, which was allotted the work of collecting waste left the job.
“We don’t know the reason why the NGO left the service. After the NGO left the service it has become difficult for us to find another NGO for the same job. But we have found two-three NGOs which are willing to work with us and for next week door-to-door wastes collection will start again,” said Chakraborty.
Chakraborty said the NGOs after collecting the wastes dump the wastes in the garbage bins.
Ranjit Chetia, a Congress ward commissioner alleged that corruption has been going in DMB.
“Due to lack of coordination, the DMB has failed in their work. All the officials of DMB are working without any discussion with us. We are also a part of DMB. The people also elected us to represent the wards but we cannot work freely due to lack of coordination,” said Chetia.
Dr. Sashikanta Saikia, principal of DHSK College and Assam’s brand ambassador of Swacch Bharat Mission, said, “We want a good and clean DMB which can work for Dibrugarh town. Now garbage is one of the major problems in Dibrugarh as some people litter plastic bags in roadside. Awareness drive should be conducted and if someone is found throwing waste outside instead of throwing it in garbage bin then penalty should be awarded to that person. Community participation is necessary to solve the garbage problem.”
Recently, Dibrugarh district administration received 30 numbers of PVC dustbins, 15 Tata Ace Hopper Tipper and one Bolero vehicle mounted drain cleaning machine from Numaligarh Refinery Limited CSR programme for solid waste management in Dibrugarh.