An unkept, stinking Sector 26 Mandi

CHANDIGARH, June 16: The official line is that the Grain-cum-Vegetable market in Sector 26 here is cleaned every day. The reality is that even on a Monday, which is officially a closed day for the Mandi, the whole place is lined with garbage and there is a terrible stench. A visit to the Mandi on a `working day’ is bad enough, with leftover vegetables and fruits and those that fall off during transport rotting away. If it rains, things are of course much worse, with slush added too. But even after a row of sunny days, the Mandi sports a pond of dirty water by the shops of the commission agents.

To the credit of the sweepers, the roads of the Mandi are relatively clean – only that all the filth is simply collected in heaps by the roadside. Officials administrating the Mandi hasten to add that they have machines to lift up this garbage, which is then taken to the notified dumping grounds.

Commission agents assert that at least on a Monday, a system can be evolved to really clean the Mandi.“The sanitary conditions in the Mandi are deteriorating . With the monsoons approaching, steps should be taken to clean the Mandi ,” stresses O.P. Chawla, president of the Sabzi Mandi Aarthi Association.

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He adds that the electricity box provided on the auction platform has become faulty. “A cow has been electrocuted on this point and some labourers have received electrical shocks,” he pointed out. The commission agents today disconnected the wires leading to the box.

A Mandi official pointed out that the matter has been taken up with the MC. Meanwhile, commission agents also highlight that the roads of the Mandi are full of potholes and should be repaired immediately.