Difficult terrain and shortage of staff pose problems for urban waste collection scheme

For about 1.54 lakh households of Shimla town,only 300 people have been employed for door-to-door garbage collection,which is proving to be insufficient as a lot of distance is required to be covered on foot to access over 40 per cent houses. Every worker has been entrusted with 100 to 110 houses for a daily wage of Rs 110.

Localities situated on the periphery of Shimla — including Khalini,BCS,New Shimla,Chakkar,Boileauganj,Kacchighati,Bus Stand,Totu and some parts of Jakhu — are the worst affected,especially in the absence of common garbage bins that were lifted from many places after the implementation of the scheme.

Chakkar-Boileauganj Councillor Usha Lakhanpal says: “Initially,we could find about 15 employees to cover over 2,000 houses,but now we have only seven. The local families that earlier used to be employed as sanitary workers are no more interested in the job and it is not possible to hire people from outside just for this purpose.”

Mayor Madhu Sood says: “Of the 25 municipal wards,we have been able to start the scheme in 20,by hiring 300 workers. We are looking out for more staff but Shimla is facing shortage of such sanitation staff. Due to difficulty in accessing all households by vehicles,we are receiving complaints of irregularities. But,the overall amount of garbage collected from the town and reaching the waste management plant has doubled.”

MC Health Officer Sonam Negi says efforts were made to engage some people from the neighbouring states but they could not settle down in Shimla due to the high cost of living.

“It is very difficult for one person to access 100 houses within the first half of the day due to the steep climb to Jakhu hill. After snowfall,many workers left the work as hardships increased. As a result,the shortage is more acute now,” says Jakhu Councillor Manoj Kuthiala.