DEHRADUN: After the year’s Swachh Survekshan that ranked Dehradun at 316 out of 434, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has instructed the authorities to ensure that Uttarakhand’s capital is in the top 100 cleanest cities in the country.However, Dehradun civic bodies and residents have their reservations about it and claim that the increasing population, staff shortage and the lack of infrastructure will make it a next to impossible task.“Though a noble task, but it is practically impossible. According to a government mandate, the city needs two sanitation workers per 1,000 people and for a population of around 12 lakh we have only 1,200 workers. How are we going to make the city absolutely clean? At present, we have approximately 1200 workers for a population which is over 10 lakh. A lot of groundwork is needed in terms of infrastructure and staff to make Dehradun one of the cleanest cities,” a nagar nigam official said, requesting anonymity.Residents are already miffed with the poor performance of the sanitation workers. However, some believe that the poor ranking should be taken as a wake-up call for the nagar nigam officials. Rajendra Singh, a resident of Race course, said, “Officials need to realize that drastic measures will have to be taken to ensure cleanliness. The CM has asked the authorities to ensure that the city is clean in the next one year but how is that possible when basic services such as garbage collection and its disposal are also not done efficiently. The rivers and streams are full of garbage and the sides of the roads have huge heaps of waste.”Few residents are of the opinion that nigam operations should be completely privatized so that there is no lack of workers. Sanjay Gupta, a resident of Rest Camp said, “If we were to privatize the entire garbage disposal system then the issue would be resolved to a certain extent. Private companies will bring with it their own workers and required equipment.”Meanwhile, nigam officials also claimed that they are doing their bit to ensure better sanitation in the city. Dr Kailash Gunjyal, health officer, Nagar Nigam said, “The waste management plant will be operational soon and along with that we are also planning to start a garbage collection system at night.”Anoop Nautiyal, a Doon based socio-political activist said that the state urban development minister recently visited Indore, which has been declared the cleanest city in the Swachh Survekshan 2017. “Now we will have to replicate in Dehradun what Indore has done. Also proper segregation of waste will be started in the city soon.”Mahesh Bhandari, president of Doon Residents Welfare Front, said, “The government should do extensive research on what can be done to make the city cleaner. The most important aspect should be citizen participation and the government should ask for their suggestions and make the road map accordingly.”The government has started surveying the city to check for points where wastes are dumped. They are also looking to make the slum colonies garbage free.

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