Residents stated they had questioned the panchayat over the delay and were told it would start in a few days but they are worried that these are just empty promises given how it has already been delayed.
In a move that was expected to bring relief to the residents of Betalbatim, the panchayat had announced that it was starting a door-to-door collection drive.
The work of collecting garbage has been outsourced to an agency and will be monitored by the pancahayat. Panchayat officials had further claimed that they had completed all the pre-monsoon works including desilting of drains.
For a long time, Betalbatim residents had complained of the garbage menace in the village and had repeatedly called on the authorities to deliver and take necessary action.
Several years ago Betalbatim had been the leading panchayat in sorting and collection of garbage but there was a dispute between the next panchayat body and the then contractor and it was stopped. Residents had rued that after it was stopped there was indiscriminate dumping of garbage near the panchayat ghar where garbage bins were placed and alongside roads which were not being cleared by the authorities.
