Siliguri, Sept 16: The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) today started a 15-day-long “clean city” awareness campaign.

In a bid to kick-start the publicity blitzkrieg, the civic body marked the occasion with five rallies that were attended by various NGOs, councillors and students from different schools in the town.

Holding aloft banners, pamphlets and accompanied by constant announcement in the loudspeakers about civic awareness, five separate processions were taken out that later met on the Hill Cart Road and Sevoke Road – the biggest thoroughfares in the town.

The SMC plan, however, extends beyond rallies and the 15 day campaign. Each ward councillor will go from door to door educating area residents about the importance of keeping the town clean,” said Shanti Chakravorty, councillor of ward 18. “It is all about giving the residents a crash course in hygiene. Not throwing rubbish on the streets, refraining from littering and blocking the roadside by heaping construction material will be part of the agenda,” said Hasi Dutt, chairperson, borough committee no. 3

Awareness, said Mukul Sengupta, member mayor-in-council, sanitation and water supply, was the key. “If we can make the people aware, the clean-up drive and the daily collection of garbage will be worthwhile,” he said. The civic authorities are also planning on slapping fines on offenders if preliminary period of requesting comes a cropper. “ The offenders will be strictly dealt with,” the councillor added.

”We will also be strict with the people, who are undertaking construction work. Some of them have no regards of the obstruction they create in the road. They tend to keep their materials like stone chips and sand strewn all over the place. We will give them a warning and if they fail to clear the road of rubble and debris within the stipulated time, they will be brought to book,” he added.

The corporation will also hold a meeting with the khatal owners during the course of the awareness programme. “The khatals under the Mahananda Bridge has always been a problem. We are planning to have a meeting with them and come to an agreement and get them move outside the town limits.,” said Sengupta.

“We have got a good response from people till now. Even local people are participating and we hope that more people will chip in with their bit. Though the town is cleaner than many places, we still have a long way to go,” said Sengupta. “We will also introduce more plastic bins in the different wards. We have also bought a land at Saudangi on the Eastern Bypass, where the garbage will be disposed off,” he added. The civic body also has waste management plans. “We will start the project shortly,” he added.