Jaipur is facing a widening garbage crisis despite the Jaipur Municipal Corporation deploying around 8,500 sanitation workers, 1,000 garbage collection vehicles and mechanised cleaning equipment across the city. Garbage was found accumulating at open depots, market stretches and roads in several neighbourhoods, raising fresh questions about the effectiveness of the civic body’s sanitation system.
A Times of India visit on Thursday found stretches between Ramganj and Ghat Gate littered with waste. Similar conditions were observed along Moti Doongri Road, where open garbage depots appeared at frequent intervals, in some locations barely 100 metres apart. The buildup comes despite Jaipur’s recognition as Rajasthan’s cleanest city.
Residents and shopkeepers told the newspaper that irregular collection was a persistent problem and not limited to the period after Diwali, which the JMC cited as a reason for the recent accumulation. At Lal Ji Saand Ka Rasta, shopkeeper Mahendra Tank said the collection vehicle rarely visited the market and that waste sometimes remained uncleared for a week, 15 days or even a month.
The JMC said it operates a multi-layered sanitation system. Additional commissioner Narendra Bansal said around 8,500 workers are engaged in manual sweeping, while dedicated unit teams clear open garbage depots. The civic body has also deployed about 1,000 hoopers for door-to-door waste collection.
In Jaipur’s Walled City, mechanised road sweepers operate between 11 pm and 3 am. The corporation also uses Jatayu garbage suction machines to remove waste from open depots. These arrangements are intended to combine street sweeping, doorstep collection and the removal of waste from locations where it accumulates.
A JMC official attributed the continued presence of open depots partly to a mismatch between collection timings and when residents or shopkeepers put out waste. The official said that if a hooper arrives at 5 am and residents wake up later, they may leave their garbage at the nearest depot. Shopkeepers who clean their establishments in the morning may also leave waste outside for hours when the collection vehicle arrives only in the evening.
The competing accounts point to an operational problem involving not only the number of sanitation workers and vehicles, but also the timing and reliability of collection at the neighbourhood level. The JMC’s stated next step is to maintain its existing combination of manual sweeping, door-to-door collection, mechanised cleaning and depot clearance while addressing missed collection timings.
