Drains clogged by garbage cause waterlogging on Dhubri roads even after a moderate shower

Sept. 24: When the tax collectors come knocking the next time, Sunil Sarmah has a good mind to ask them for a spade. Or if that’s too much to ask for, at least an air freshener.

The Dhubri civic body has not cleared garbage from Sarmah’s neighbourhood on Ram Krishna Mission Road for the past year.

It is hardly surprising, then, that he and a number of his neighbours are in no mood to pay civic tax.

“This time when municipal tax collectors came, I told them to first remove the garbage and then ask for tax. They never turned up again,” Sarma, a resident of ward 15 (a), said.

“The stench is unbearable and we feel ashamed to bring visitors. But the civic authorities could not care less.”

Dhubri municipal officials plead helplessness and cite staff shortage. Eighty labourers, including 62 sweepers, engaged in cleaning 16 wards, are hardly enough to rid the town of garbage.

Besides, there are not enough trailers, dozers and dumpers, he said.

“In the absence of these equipment, garbage cannot be lifted regularly.”

The filth has more side-effects than smelly roads.

The Dhubri District Nehru Yuva Kendra, a social organisation, said the overflowing garbage is clogging the drains and causing waterlogging even after a moderate shower.

According to a source in the Dhubri Municipal Board, the drainage system of the town was a fine architectural piece built in 1931 entirely on gradient measurements with four huge outlets.

In order to flush out excess water from the town and also to stop river water from entering the town, two sluice gates were also erected.

But over the years, the system collapsed.

And now with the waste making its way into the drains, this town is in danger of turning into a garbage dump.

“The tall talk of better health management is simply not possible until we address the basic problems of garbage management. Hygiene is the key to good health. But we have failed to deliver the basics,” Dhubri district Nehru Yuva Kendra Youth co-ordinator, Shankar Chandra Sarkar, said.

The organisation is now planning a pilot project to lift and dispose of garbage from the town.