Lucknow: Waste collection from doorsteps still a dream

LUCKNOW: Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has not been able to achieve the target of covering 100% households under its door-to-door garbage collection project, even nearly two years after the initial deadline and several assurances of getting it done at the earliest.
Residents of areas covered under the project have complained that the services have been highly irregular despite ful payment.
In some localities, people have even discontinued the service of the agency chosen by the LMC for the purpose and hired private players.

According to LMC, there are 5.56 lakh households in the city. The corporation had hired an agency to collect door-to-door garbage, asking it to cover all households by December 2019. However, even after several reminders, the company so far has been able to cover only 3 lakh households. About 50,000 houses are covered by LMC through other private agencies.
This means that over two lakh houses are still uncovered. Lack of full coverage has been costing LMC valuable marks in Swachh Bharat rankings in previous years.
While LMC commissioner Ajay Dwivedi was not available for comments, Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia had taken cognizance of the matter and asked the private player to submit a progress report of garbage disposal every week.
“The company recently added 10,000 more houses. Directives have been issued to speed up work,” she said.
However, residents in many areas are unhappy.
Avneesh Dixit of Aishbagh said, “Workers of the private agency are irregular. They come to collect garbage only thrice a week, but charge fee for the entire month. LMC should ensure that work is done properly.”
Residents of Vivek Khand in Gomtinagar have hired private workers. Saurabh Saxena said: “We got fed up with the services of the agency roped in by LMC, so we hired an additional worker who collects garbage.” Deepak Yadav of Rakabganj said, “Workers deployed by LMC and its agency demanded extra money. When I refused, they stopped coming to my house.”