Srinagar a summer capital or garbage dump?

Srinagar, Oct 22: The summer capital, Srinagar, has turned into a garbage dump with hundreds of tonnes of plastic and other wastes scattered almost everywhere, leading to clash between sweepers of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) and locals at several places.

Police had to intervene at historic Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the capital, when shopkeepers clashed with sweepers, who were dumping the waste near Ganthaghar. The shopkeepers, joined by some pedestrians, scattered the waste on the busy road in protest against dumping the waste there. Expressing helplessness the sweepers, said they had no other place to dump the waste.

Traffic on the road was affected for about half-an-hour when police intervened and saved the situation. The sweepers threatened to go on an indefinite strike if they were again threatened by the shopkeepers.

Hundreds of tones of waste, meanwhile, collected by the sweepers, remained on roads for the past one week as the Achen residents in the city outskirts refused to allow the SMC to dump the city garbage there.

Despite repeated assurance by the SMC and other civil authorities of shifting the dumping site, nothing has been done so far.

UNI