This is an archive article published on July 24, 2023
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Hours before Chandigarh administrator’s visit, Dadumajra gets a quick makeover
Residents want the administrator, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, to pay more such visits 'so that officials would address their concerns promptly'.
Over 50,000 residents of Dadumajra have been living just across a huge dumping ground that they say poses a risk to their well-being, with many suffering from skin- and lung- related ailments. (File)
Residents of Dadumajra were in for a surprise when they woke up on Monday morning: the leachate flowing from a dumping ground that they had been complaining about for a fortnight had been cleared.
They soon got to know that officials had cleared the dirty water in time for a visit by Union Territory administrator and Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit to an area near the dumping ground.
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They found workers of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation sweeping the area and clearing the leachate that had kept flowing onto the streets like rivers since a part of the boundary wall near the dumping ground collapsed in heavy rain on July 9.
Dyal Krishan, a local resident, told The Indian Express, “When we asked the staff why this cleaning was going on, they said the administrator was coming. We were surprised because we had been literally trying hard, requesting at various levels, to get the leachate cleared. And something that couldn’t happen in the last fifteen days was done in a few minutes this morning.”
Krishan added that the residents were even asked to remain indoors.
However, the administrator didn’t visit that part of Dadumajra where the leachate had flowed to.
When contacted, Mayor Anup Gupta said, “As the governor had said that he would personally review the situation, he just went to see the progress of legacy mining and the plant that will come up. It was just a routine visit.”
Residents now want the administrator “to pay frequent routine visits” so that officials would respond to their concerns promptly. “We really wish the administrator came here frequently. At least, our area would remain clean,” Krishan said.
Over 50,000 residents of Dadumajra have been living just across a huge dumping ground that they say poses a risk to their well-being, with many suffering from skin- and lung- related ailments.
The corporation has said that it will engage a company to process the waste being dumped in the landfill site.
Over 50,000 residents of Dadumajra have been living just across a huge dumping ground that they say poses a risk to their well-being, with many suffering from skin- and lung- related ailments. (File) 
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