Mahesh Sharma
Mandi Ahmedgarh, 11 December
The ongoing conflict between Panchayat Daliz Kalan and Municipal Council Ahmedgarh regarding garbage disposal escalated when the villagers and Congress activists staged dharna at different places under the leadership of Sarpanch against dumping garbage in front of Sarpanch Shagir Muhammad’s shop. . The protesters also raised slogans against the Punjab government and the municipal council.
The current tension arose when some villagers stopped the cleaning workers who went to throw garbage in a plot hired by the Municipal Council for throwing garbage on the outskirts of Daliz village on Monday and threatened them not to return. The cleaning workers had filed a complaint in the Sadar police station regarding interference in their work, but before the police took action, someone threw garbage in front of the Sarpanch’s shop early today.
During the dharna, Sarpanch Shagir Muhammad alleged that the officials of the Municipal Council have thrown garbage in front of his shop with the intention of pressurizing him to continue the process of dumping garbage in a plot located near the residential area of the village.
Although the dharna was lifted after the intervention of senior officials of the civil and police administration, the cleaning workers led by Chaman Lal Dulla, president of the cleaning workers union, warned to continue their protest. Chaman Lal Dulla alleged that some residents of village Daliz Kalan allegedly prevented and threatened the sanitation workers posted on the trolleys going to the garbage dump on the outskirts of the village from moving the trolleys.
Garbage being thrown from the year in the plot: Pradhan
President Municipal Council Vikas Krishna Sharma alleged that even though the municipal corporation was throwing garbage in the said plot for more than a year. According to him, however, after the panchayat elections, the village leaders started stopping the employees from performing official duties under the Swachh Bharat Mission, because the owner of the plot had contested the election of the sarpanch.