Beyond the one-day clean-up: walled city residents struggle with daily garbage piles

Jaipur: The Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) will launch a one-day ‘Operation Clean Sweep’ across the Walled City on Saturday night, deploying nearly 2,000 sanitation workers for a deep-cleaning drive in some of the area’s narrowest and dirtiest lanes. While JMC claims the campaign will transform the old city overnight, many residents say the real issue is not the lack of cleanliness drives but irregular waste collection.

For residents of the Walled City, the problem begins long before garbage reaches the streets. People living in areas such as Kutteto Ka Rasta, Namak Ki Mandi and Baba Harishchandra Marg said garbage collection vehicles often fail to arrive for three to four days at a stretch, leaving families with no option but to dump waste outside their homes.

“No one enjoys throwing garbage on the streets. But when the garbage hopper does not come on time, people cannot keep waste rotting inside their homes,” said local resident Hardik Karnawat.

JMC commissioner Om Kasera said the civic body would ‘make the Walled City shine’ through the campaign, but added that maintaining cleanliness afterwards would be the responsibility of citizens. Residents, however, argued that without regular garbage collection and sanitation services, expecting people to maintain cleanliness is unrealistic.

Former councillor Arvind Methi said one-day drives may create publicity but cannot solve long-standing sanitation problems. “If garbage hoppers do not come regularly or on time, people will obviously dump waste outside. Another major issue is the constant transfer of sanitation workers from the Walled City, which has already weakened the cleaning system,” he said.

Several inner areas of the Walled City continue to struggle with poor sanitation. Residents said while tourist-heavy markets such as Bapu Bazaar, Nehru Bazaar, Indira Bazaar and Chaura Rasta are cleaned regularly, internal lanes in Johri Bazaar, Ramganj, Surajpole Gate, Ghat Gate, Jalupura and Gangauri Bazaar remain neglected.

Former councillor Akhtar Hussain questioned the effectiveness of the campaign, pointing out that nearly Rs 25 crore was sanctioned earlier under a Smart City-linked initiative meant specifically for cleaning ‘gandi galiyan’.

“If those special projects could not change the situation, how will a one-day campaign solve it?” he asked.

For many residents, the demand is simple: consistency.

“We just don’t want to wake up to piles of garbage every morning,” said Nahargarh Road resident Raunak Kumar.

Another resident, Akash Tiwari, added, “If the same effort put into this one-day campaign was made regularly, the beauty of the Walled City would completely change.”
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