Saurav Adhikary & Rabindranath Biswas
Sri Vijaya Puram, Nov. 14: The Chairperson of Sri Vijaya Puram Municipal Council, Mr. Sudeep Rai Sharma held Press Conference today in order to counter a rumour being spread through WhatsApp group that the Municipality is going to ask/charge Rs. 1000/- from the household for garbage collection. The Chairperson of Sri Vijaya Puram Municipal Council made it clear that it is merely rumour and fake news being spread about this 1000 rupees collection. Referring to a Gazette Notification which came into being in 2017.
A Solid Waste Management Bye Laws was drafted and given full shape on 16 February 2016 and it was reportedly notified by the President of India, A & N Administration and the honourable Lieutenant Governor in which the door to door garbage collection fee would be Rs. 50/- but the news of collection Rs. 1000/- from the household for garbage collection is baseless and false information being spread, the Council said.
Mr. Sharma said that every household should keep the garbage segregated, that is to say that the wet garbage should be kept separate from dry garbage before the Safai Karmachari collects the garbage from the household. And it was as per the gazette notification that those households who will not segregate the garbage at home and when the Safai Karmachari will segregate and collect the garbage then the household will have to pay Rs. 1000/- as a fine. But it is unfair that rumour is being spread through whatsapp group that the Municipality is asking Rs. 1000/- from the household for garbage collection.
The Chairperson of Sri Vijaya Puram Municipal Council further said that Port Blair Municipal is struggling to deliver its services to the people owing to the sheer paucity of funds. On the other hand, complaints are pouring in from 24 Ward Councils that garbage is lying dumped and not being collected. He said that the Municipal is struggling owing to the dearth of man power.
Some Safai Karmachari retired, some Safai Karmachari became aged while some Safai Karmachari are under medical treatment and under the given situation the Municipal is facing the challenges in lifting the garbage. However, since the people elected the Municipal councilors with expectation that their grievances would be rightly redressed by them and the people rightly hold expectation from their respective Municipal Councillor.
Similarly, all the 24 Municipal Councillors put their best efforts to deliver their service and come to the residents’ expectation, but in certain situations Municipal Councillors come across some unavoidable challenges which they can’t defeat or counter and in that situation they fail to deliver their services satisfactorily. Besides, Municipal Councillors are also human beings and they too have certain constraints, they said.
Every Council is plagued with the problem of street lights; but the Council was hand tied and couldn’t do anything as the street light was on tender for seven years. However, on approaching the Chief Secretary, A & N Administration, the CS, at his own risk, verbally ordered the Council to do the maintenance work of the street lights and for which the Council conveyed his gratitude to the CS.
Accordingly, the Municipal undertook to repair and maintain the street lights in municipal areas. However, the residents of the council are ignorant of all these constraints that they have to face while delivering their services to them. However, since they are humans, and error/lapses may happen from their side, and the Council requested the Media with folded hands to bring forth the lapses/irregularities of the Municipal Councillor(s) if there is/are any, the Municipal said.
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