Union Home Minister Amit Shah has directed the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to resolve the issue of garbage disposal in the posh localities of Bopal, Ghuma and Ambli in the city within three days, the BJP's Gujarat unit said on Friday.
As per a release issued by the party, Shah, who is a Lok Sabha member from Gandhinagar seat, has asked municipal commissioner Lochan Sehra to resolve the issue of garbage disposal, which has emerged due to a strike by sanitation workers.
Bopal, Ghuma and Ambli were originally villages and used to fall under a municipality. They come under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat of Shah. After a massive real estate development, these villages or suburbs were included in the AMC.
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Nearly 500 sanitation workers of the AMC have been on strike for the last one month over some pending issues, resulting in heaps of garbage being accumulated on roads and in public spaces, as there is no one to collect and dispose them.
"Nearly 200 sanitation workers of the nagarpalika were not given jobs by the AMC after the local body was merged into the city. Moreover, the AMC was also refusing to give jobs to those who had taken long leaves due to some social or health issues. Hence, nearly 500 workers of the area are on strike for nearly a month," said Kalpesh Makwana, the general secretary of the AMC Servants Association.
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Heaps of garbage can be spotted in the area as workers have refused to clear them till their demands are met, he said. "We have received a message that top AMC officials will hold a meeting with us in the evening to find an amicable solution," Makwana said.
In another development, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has decided to provide irrigation water from Narmada canal network to 32 villages situated near Nal Sarovar area in Sanand taluka, which also falls under Shah's Gandhinagar constituency.
Recently, Shah held a meeting with Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar and other senior officials over the issue of water scarcity in these 32 "no-source" villages situated on the bank of Nal Sarovar lake.
As recommended by the Union minister, the Gujarat government has now decided to cover all these "no-source" villages under the Narmada project to provide water for irrigation to farmers, a release issued by the state government said.
(With PTI inputs)
