Kabir Agarwal | TNNMeerut: Rashida Begum lives in a one room shanty in Lakkipura with her husband and two daughters. The shanty is surrounded by garbage and a clogged drain. The place has been in such a deplorable state for the past two years, and Begum says she has never seen anyone coming and picking up garbage.“We have to clean the place, even the drain around us. But, how much can we clean it? Filthy water enters our houses during the rains. My children have often suffered from diarrhoea”, said Begum. The children sit on the side of the drain and play with clay, while their mother cooks food right in front of the drain.Despite various initiatives such as Swacch Bharat, the effects are yet to be seen at the ground level. Nullahs around the city continue to remain clogged, garbage is seen lying around, and the number of garbage collection bins seems to have gone down.“Health is a major problem. In these areas, where people live next to drains and sometimes on garbage, people are suffering a lot. A lot of people die due to Tuberculosis. People are unable to breath clean air. There is also an issue of cholera as people live so close to drains which are never cleaned. Sometimes, drain water even enters their homes. A large number of diarrhoea and cholera cases are reported. The authorities are not even concerned and never ever clean this place.”, said Mohammed Abid, an activist who works on health issues.The municipal authorities claim that work is underway, cleaning is in progress and also went on to blame residents themselves for spreading too much garbage. “We are cleaning drains all around the city. The work got delayed due to model code of conduct. But, we have now began work and the city will be absolutely clean within a matter of days. There is also the problem of people spreading too much garbage. We are not spreading garbage, they are. They also need to be careful”, said Dr. Kanwar Sen, city health officer.

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