Vendors organise a weekly market of fruits and vegetables at this plot every Sunday.
A vacant plot near Aashiyana Chowk has become a nuisance for the residents of KW Srishti, a high rise in Raj Nagar Extension. The reason is heaps of garbage scattered all over the plot.
Vendors organise a weekly market of fruits and vegetables at this plot every Sunday. While the vendors arrive and sell out their stuffs, they leave behind the garbage. It is not being cleared for over two months.
The plot is located just a few meters away from KW Shristi and residents always complain about stench emanating from the plot. The situation exacerbates after the rain.
“We literally have to keep windows of our flat closed after the rain. We do it to avoid the stench emanating from the garbage lying on the plot,” told Sunil Panchal, a resident of the high rise.
The area comes under the jurisdiction of Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA). CitySpidey spoke to SK Varshney, Junior Engineer of the area to find out reasons behind this mess.
He said that the tender for sanitation of Raj Nagar Extension was floated over three months ago during the period of general elections. “The last contract was expired on April 17 which was extended till April 30. As the model code of conduct was in place at that time, we could not furnish a new contract,” he said.
Meanwhile, daily labourers have been hired to do the cleaning of the area. These labours, however, are only doing cleanliness on the main roads of Raj Nagar Extension.
“As no contract of cleaning is in place currently, the authority restricts the cleaning budget which is mere Rs 1 lakh per month. In this small amount, we could not maintain the cleanliness of an area as vast as Raj Nagar Extension,” he said.
However, a tender was floated earlier this month. “New agency will be given a contract to start maintaining the cleanliness of the area from next week,” Varshney assured.
It has been two months since the Election Commission of India removed MCC. When asked why the delay of two months occurred in giving the contract of cleaning, Varshney reasoned that it is the usual time period for the process of floating tender and giving contract. “It would not have mattered if the contract had been in place currently,” he commented.
To keep the area clean, the authority ropes in private contractors for four months thrice in a year through a tender process.
