GUWAHATI, Aug 25 - Dumping of household garbage including plastic and flowers used in rituals continues unabated at Lachit Ghat on the bank of the Brahmaputra here.
�People, including street vendors, bring polythene bags full of flowers used in rituals and plastics for disposal on the river (bank). As there are no garbage bins in the entire area, people prefer to dump the waste on the riverbank,� Mukund Singh, a resident of Fancy Bazar area said.
�People have a tendency to throw flowers used in rituals, besides plastic materials, into the river,� he added.
The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) that is concerned with solid waste management in the city, has special squads to look after the matter.
�The officials have to be more vigilant to prevent such activities. The menace cannot be curbed without stringent action. Garbage bins are required in the area,� another resident of the area Kumud Biswas said.
�There is also a need for more public urinals, especially for differently-abled people and women, in the city. Lack of adequate public urinals proves to be a serious bane so far as cleanliness is concerned as people relieve themselves anywhere they can,� Biswas added.
There are altogether 130 garbage disposal bins in the city. The GMC has removed several bins from the streets to make them garbage bin-free. It has also taken several measures to make the city clean, from introducing auto tippers to deploying flying squads to dispose waste. However, the exercises have proved futile.
Altogether 500 tonnes of waste are generated in the city daily. At present, there are more than 60 garbage-collecting vehicles of GMC with 90 NGOs engaged in door-to-door collection of garbage. Still, the city is far from being clean and smart-looking.
In the recently announced Swachh Survekshan Survey 2020, Guwahati city ranked 356 out of 382. No wonder then, why Guwahati is one of the dirtiest cities in the country!
