Tribune News Service Ludhiana February 9 When the BJP leaders here are raising questions over the garbage-lifting process after A2Z Company left its services Ludhiana Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu assured the residents that all was well in terms of the lifting of garbage and management of solid waste in all areas falling under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation. The Mayor said ever since the contract of A2Z Company which was earlier involved in the solid waste management of the city was terminated all senior MC officials had been in the field and looking after the solid waste management so that people did not suffer. Accompanied by MC Commissioner Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal and other senior officials Sandhu today took a round of several areas of the city and supervised the ongoing lifting of garbage from the secondary collection points. In a press statement Sandhu said even the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had given the instructions to make the audit of the legacy waste that they had created and make the recoveries from them to remediate that legacy waste. The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) too at various occasions had passed strictures against A2Z for not complying with the solid waste management rules of 2016. The Municipal Corporation Ludhiana (MCL) too had been regularly issuing them notices for such non-compliance. He said since A2Z Company which was given a contract for solid waste management by the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janta Party combine in the year 2011 was not working as per the agreed agreement their contract was terminated in the interest of the residents. He said that the bank guarantee of A2Z Company would also be forfeited by the MC. He said fresh tenders for the solid waste management of Ludhiana would also be floated shortly and assured the residents that the new company would be hired in a transparent manner. BJP Ludhiana president Pushpinder Singhal along with other party leaders held a press conference raising questions over the role of Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu for allegedly not taking timely measures to find a solution related to garbage lifting in the city after the A2Z group had issued termination notice. The BJP leader alleged that garbage was not being lifted from some locations in the city. Singhal said when the A2Z group had served termination notice of 45 days in December 2020 why required steps were not taken? Pushpinder Singhal further said that if the A2Z group was not lifting the waste properly why the Municipal Corporation authorities had earlier not taken any action against the company? “The Mayor should have taken timely steps to call an immediate House meeting and taken suggestions of the councillors to find a solution when the company had issued notice to quit service” he said.

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