NEW DELHI: The strike by sanitation workers has turned East Delhi into a huge garbage dump over the past 10 days, posing a serious threat to people’s health, but the squabbling men in authority can’t smell the stink. About 15,000 tonnes of waste has been dumped on roadsides and in residential areas and 12,000 sanitation workers are refusing to work without getting their salaries. But the two men who live far away in Civil Lines – Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung – less than a kilometre from each other, have displayed no sense of urgency as a full-blown public health crisis develops. No one is owning up to the mess, the Swachh Bharat campaign be damned!

And the BJP which runs the corporation is happy to lay the blame at the CM’s door and look the other way. The corporations have the power to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance (ESMA) Act and force the sanitation staff to resume work but that’s far from their mind. The corporation claims it is yet to get the amount of Rs 500 crore which the CM had promised to the East and North corporations on Monday. “We have released the salary for one-fifth of the total sanitation workers, which amounts to Rs 6 crore, from our funds. We haven’t received anything from the government yet. We don’t have any plan of invoking ESMA as of now as we are hopeful that the workers will call off the strike,” says the east corporation’s mayor, Harshdeep Malhotra.

But doctors and public health officials are warning of an epidemic if there is any delay in containing the situation. Doctors say the decaying household waste items, containing mostly solid waste like half-eaten vegetables and meat products, may give rise to bacterial illnesses such as typhoid and jaundice that spread through contaminated food and water.

At Chacha Nehru Baal Chikitsalaya (CNBC), the only state-run hospital for children in Geeta Colony, officials say they have advised all patients and their relatives not to buy food items being sold by hawkers near the garbage dumps. “The decayed garbage has turned into a pool of harmful bacteria. Mosquitoes, flies and other insects amassed in these places are spreading these diseases. A few attendants have already come down with gastrointestinal illnesses,” said a senior doctor.

According to Dr Anoop Mohta, director of the children’s hospital, garbage has been lying near the main gate for five days. “Patients are finding it difficult to breathe. But, we fear, if this crisis continues, children may catch food and water-borne diseases. Their immune system is weaker,” he added.

In Laxmi Nagar, there is no space left on arterial roads for traffic, causing massive congestion. “The situation is deteriorating with each passing day. It is time that the government and the corporation did something to resolve the issue. It will soon start affecting the health of the residents,” said an anxious Jitender Yadav, whose house is opposite a dhalao in Laxmi Nagar.

In almost all residential colonies, markets and slums, the dhalaos are overflowing and garbage is strewn on the roads. Areas like Geeta Colony, Vishwas Nagar, Jaffrabad, Yamuna Vihar, Shakarpur, Shahdara, Seelampur and Patparganj are badly hit. “Our house stinks all the time though we live on the fifth floor. I’m worried about my children’s health. I have asked them not to go out to play,” said Hemant Kumar, a resident of Geeta Colony.

Typhoid, jaundice and skin allergies are some of the most common health problems that can occur, said Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis C-Doc. Warning that mosquito-breeding in the garbage piles may lead to the spread of dengue and malaria, Dr Misra said the waste needs to be removed immediately. “This solid waste cannot be disinfected. It has to be disposed of safely by the municipal workers at landfill sites,” he added.

Unlike South and North, East has not outsourced its sanitation work. Sources say since June 2, just 200- 300 tonnes of waste has been dumped at the Ghazipur landfill site as against a daily supply of 2000 tonnes. “They are protesting outside our workshops where our trucks are parked, landfill site and at various locations,” said an official.

Post-trifurcation, the corporations, mainly East and North, have been struggling to streamline basic services like sanitation. While both have failed miserably in generating revenue, lack of support from the state and central governments has added to their problem. The state government is refusing to release their global share, which is 5.5% of the total collection from taxes while the central government is yet to release the Rs 500 crore which it had promised for implementation of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Rashmi Singh, who lives in Patparganj, said the garbage problem was so grave that people in her colony have stopped going out for morning walks. “My father has asthma. He was not able to breathe due to the stink. We shifted him to a relative’s place in Lajpat Nagar but there are others in my colony who have no other place to go to,” she said.

Dr Mukesh Mehra, senior consultant, internal medicine, at Max Hospital, Patparganj, said that in case of rain, the contamination may spread to water sources. “This is criminal neglect. The municipal workers are putting the lives of thousands of people at risk to get their demands met. The government must take stern action and act fast to contain the health crisis emerging from this,” he said.

Meanwhile, business is badly hit in commercial hubs. In Vishwas Nagar, traders have been left with no option but to shut their shops for a considerable duration as there is a dip in footfalls. “The stench is unbearable. What can we do? Both the government and corporation should understand the seriousness of the situation and release salaries of these workers. This can’t go on. It’s been more than a week and the situation is becoming worse. Sometimes when I can’t stand the sight and the stink, I close my shop and go home,” said Anil Sharma, who runs a medical store in Vishwas Nagar.