Garbage heaps in city areas health hazard for denizens

KANPUR: With viral infections already gripping the city, rotting and stinking garbage heaps lying in open have become a matter of concern for the denizens. Over-flowing municipal dustbins are a common sight in the city, clearly depicting that there is no provision for proper disposal of garbage.
According to the data collected from Nagar Nigam, there are 223 garbage collection centres in the city out of which 148 are open, while 75 are covered.However, an official on condition of anonymity said that the covered centres are in dilapidated state and are no more enclosed.
He said that years back A2Z kept 3000 garbage containers in the city but all of them are broken now. Ideally the garbage collection centres should be enclosed in four walls and covered from the top. Huge heap of stinking garbage was seen in areas like Fazalganj, Chaar-Khamba Chauraha, 80-Feet Road, G.T Road, Double Puliya, Namak factory, Kabadi Market chauraha and Nawabganj area etc. With changing weather conditions, heaps of garbage strewn all over the city is resulting in spread of viral infections in the city.
Dr. Pankaj Srivastava, health officer of Nagar Nigam accepted the fact that open garbage dumping gives rise to lot of air borne disease, but seemed helpless on the issue. “Cleaning open collection centres is our first priority every day. But the city is not small and managing things take time,” he said. When Dinesh Katiyar, sanitary manager of A2Z was contacted and asked about the prevailing unhygienic conditions in the city, he said that situation is well under control.
“Our vehicles collect garbage from different localities between 10am-5pm every day. The garbage is first dumped in garbage collection centres after which it is taken to recycling plant in Bhaunti area,” Katiyar, who looks after zone 4, 5 and 6 of the city, said. Rahman Khan of Nagar Nigam, who looks after zone 1, 2 and 3 claimed that his areas which include Dalel Purwa, Kabadi Bazar, Ursula and LIC do not have problem of garbage. “We make sure that garbage is picked from every area of the city and properly disposed off. We have 52 vehicles with us that collect and dump city garbage in Bhunti area, where we have a recycling plant. The plant is dysfunctional for the past 2-3 months,” he said.