Waste scattered all over the city makes a
sorry picture. "I miss the India of 15 years ago", says Chiranjital, a
55-year-old Nagar Nigam worker. This waste has increased simultaneously with the rapid
increase of population. "The citizens think the cleaning work is the municipal
corporation's responsibility solely but the municipal staff is not enough for the
purpose," says Chiranjital. He adds that the problem of waste 15-20 years ago was
different from today's as it was entirely handled by the government. Now the municipality
divides an area into sectors and engages a contractor for waste collection from each. The
contractors hire some private labour to remove the recyclable waste like cartons,
newspaper, etc. and leave the rest for the Nagar Nigam staff to remove. So, besides being
paid around Rs 1500 by the government, the contractors have an additional income by
recycled paper. "If this contractor thing gets over with, the city will be as clean
as it was 15 years ago", said Chiranjital.
Fundung |
 |
The labour engaged by the contractor contradicts this. They say that
since the government does not work properly, the contractor plays an important role as he
works more efficiently. Trucks collect wastes in the allotted areas everyday in two trips
and disposes it on landfill sites in Narthpura, outside Amer. Every sort of degradable and
non-degradable wastes are dumped into landfill site. "Putting garbage-bins along
roads is not the responsibility of the contractor", says the labourer, putting the
blame of garbage along the roads on the government.
This war of contradiction between the government and the contractors seem to be endless,
affecting the residents most. Gaurabai, who's lived in Jaipur for around 35 years,
complains that the municipal corporation works very rarely in their neighbourhood. Her
family has 60 members who throw all their waste into the street, and often suffer from
skin infections, fever and infectious diseases. "If a worker is sent by the
municipality after we lodge a complaint, he demands money from us", she says. On
being asked why they throw garbage on the roads, she said that the government removed the
garbage bins set up once and there is no place to throw waste in.
People throw all their waste into the street, and often suffer
from skin infections, fever and infectious diseases |
As everything has two points of view, this too has a contradiction!
While waste is creating a nuisance for some citizens, some others are completely satisfied
with the waste removal work of the municipal corporation. Vishnu Sharma, owner of Kapil
and Company says that the Nagar Nigam, Jaipur (NNJ) does a satisfactory work. A
wheelbarrow comes to pick up the garbage everyday in the morning. Sharma recycles waste
cardboards and paper and earns Rs 5000 per day. Earlier recyclable wastes were bought from
ragpickers but after the incident of plague, the ragpickers like Gulab Devi (70) became
unemployed (see box Struggle for Survival).
 |
Struggle for
survival
Seventy-year-old Gulab Devi tells GT about her difficult life, while
standing in front of a kabaddiwallah (waste recycling centre). She is a ragpicker. She is
all alone and lives on the roadside. She says, "I have lost all hope. It's really
difficult for me to survive as I cannot see properly." With a bag of chapatties in
her hand, she walked slowly with the help of a stick. "I used to sell vegetables, but
due to my weakness, I have become a ragpicker. Even after collecting paper waste from
morning to evening, I hardly earn five rupees for my survival." There are many like
her on the streets of Jaipur.
AAVRITI JAIN |
"I
hardly earn five rupees a day collecting waste." |
We want Jaipur to be the World Heritage city but the sanitary conditions
are very poor. The open drains overflow with dirty water making the place even more stinky
and unhealthy.
Surabhi Saini, Divita Mathur, Pramiti Pareek, Nandika
Kumari, Aavriti Jain, Kuhu Kochar |
A Down To
Earth Supplement
