Cows have a gala time at a garbage dump on Boring Road in Patna. Residents of the area claim waste has not been carted away for days. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Sept. 27: This Dussehra, the residents of the state capital have a new demon in the place of Mahisasur that they would like goddess Durga to slay: garbage.

The Navratri festival begins from tomorrow but thoroughfares and residential areas of the city are littered alike. The fragrant festive air is polluted with obnoxious odours that emanate from heaps of waste that have not been carted away for days. Sources said though residents of most areas had to suffer the malodours, places like Shri Krishna Nagar, Buddha Colony, Khajpura, Boring Canal Road, Kidwaipuri, Mandiri, Digha, Kankerbagh and Jakkanpur are the worst affected.

The suspension of services by A2Z Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd — the agency hired to cart away garbage from several parts of the state capital — has not helped the situation.

While the residents slammed the civic body for their plight, Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials said they were doing their best. They also promised to remove garbage as soon as possible to ensure a pleasant festive season for the citizens.

Umesh Sharma, a resident of the Chakaram locality, said PMC workers had not cleaned filled garbage vats in his locality for the past several days. “I live in Hari Towers. The stench of the garbage near our building has become intolerable. We are unable to even stand on the balcony of our flats. The PMC workers have not cleared the overflowing garbage vats in the locality for the past several days.”

PMC officials of the New Capital Circle — under whose jurisdiction Chakaram falls — claim that they are doing their best to deal with the problem.

Sheshank Shekhar Sinha, executive officer, PMC New Capital Circle, said: “The wards and the roads are as clean as they used to be. The private agency had not ensured cent per cent cleanliness either. We are trying to do our best.”

PUNGENT PARK: A garbage dump at Gandhi Maidan. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Explaining the extra measures taken by the civic body, Sinha said: “At present, three extra compactors and two hydraulic tractors are used to ferry garbage from 30 wards in our circle. Garbage-carrying vehicles have also been asked to cart away waste more frequently.” He added that the number of workers in all the 72 wards of the PMC have been increased by five.

The extra measures, however, have brought little respite to the residents.

Sujata Das, a resident of Kidwaipuri, said: “For many days the garbage has not been removed regularly from our area. The stench is so pungent that even the children of the neighbourhood have stopped playing in the park. To make matters worse, stray cattle and mongrels, who are attracted by the rotten garbage, spread it all over the neighbourhood. There is no respite in the festive season.”

There could be some breather, literally, in the Pujas, though.

PMC additional commissioner Chandrama Singh said the civic body has geared up to ensure a clean capital for the Pujas.

“Four senior officials, including me, have been assigned the task of monitoring the sanitation work in all the circles of the PMC during the Puja and Dussehra. We have ordered for the areas around the pandals to be cleaned thrice everyday. Fifty additional labourers have been deployed and more contractual employees would be assigned to carry out the task,” said Singh.

You and I can only hope that the waste demons would be destroyed in the festive season.