Bundu: A scenic but chronically and chaotically dirty town in Ranchi district, 50km from the capital, woke up in disbelief and embarrassment on Thursday morning to newspaper reports that called it the cleanest small city in east zone.
Bundu, with its nagar panchayat area of 18sqkm, 13 wards, 5,544 households and a 35,000-plus population, scored a clean sweep in Swachh Survekshan 2018 among east zone cities under one-lakh population, its Wednesday results declared.
But, the stench from the town's biggest filthy pond, dirty roads with men urinating on the sides, lack of sewerage with clogged drains tell a different story, prompting a senior citizen, R.D. Singh, to quip "Swachh gimmick".
" Dekha akhbar wale kya likhte hain? Kaun yeh survey kiya? Agar kagaj par hi sab kuch karna tha to Bundu ko Berlin ghoshit kar dete (See, what papers have reported. Who did this survey? If everything has to be done on paper, declare Bundu Berlin)," young trader Ajay Bhagat laughed loudly.
Residents pointed out their biggest pond Bada Talab, spread over 71 acres and heavily encroached, was a cesspool of sewage. Bundu lacks proper sewerage and drainage system, which civic officials themselves admit. Except wards 1, 8, 9 and 13, others face the brunt of bad drainage, with dirty water flooding roads. Speaking of roads, residents pointed out how before and during the survey, they were cleaned twice a day but not anymore.
Though Bundu got a central open-defecation-free certificate last September, men urinated on roadsides amid loudspeaker injunctions against the practice. Swachh Abhiyan official Anand Raj claimed they had received 1,650 applications from individuals for toilet construction at home of which 1,629 applications were found genuine and toilets made accordingly.
But, open defecation continues, and sometimes by compulsion. As many as six public toilets on the joint premises of Bundu subdivision and Bundu block offices were locked, The Telegraph team discovered on Thursday. "They're permanently locked, don't ask why," president of Bundu Bar Association Girish Mahto said.
Local residents Manish Pundu and Harshvardhan Sharma said the pond water was so dirty that rashes appeared on bathers. "Without proper drainage and sewerage, nothing will change," Sharma said.
Even Amresh Kumar Chaurasia, appointed a brand ambassador of Swachhta Abhiyan by the local civic body, said civic amenities were on a downslide. "Till four months ago, when the nagar panchayat was in direct control, roads were cleaned twice and water sprinkled to stop dust, safai workers went to homes for garbage collection. But, when civic body hired private company MLBCPL, things are no longer the same," said Chaurasia.
Even newly elected vice chairman of Bundu Nagar Panchayat Sunil Kumar Jaisawal agreed somewhat. "We had 115 safai workers. The outsourced company refused to hire so many, saying hardly 30 were needed. Workers went on strike. We are now trying to ensure door-to-door garbage collection at least every alternative day," Jaisawal said.
If basics are bad, frills are non-existent. Bundu's main commercial hub, Subhash Chowk, has a fountain that "turned defunct within a week of its installation two years ago", said lawyer-social worker Anand Kumar Mahto.
Children have no space to play. A park set up five years ago near Bada Talab remains closed.
Asked about their rank, executive magistrate of Nagar Panchayat Shailesh Kumar Priyadarshi said, "We showed rapid improvement." But asked to explain, he could only say, "We are working on a big sewerage-drainage plan that has to be approved by the urban development department. We are also working on a treatment plant for septage management on a 0.5 acre plot."
Senior citizen Singh had the last word. "It seems that the government had decided it would give Bundu the swachh tag. So it got the tag. Yes, during the survey and even till April 16 civic poll elections, we saw some safai work. Now, Bundu is again sitting on a heap of garbage."
