Dhanbad, Dec. 7: CRPF personnel today left arms for brooms and spades to team up with Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) workers for an awareness-cum-cleanliness rally before the national swachhata survey from January 4 to February 4, 2017.

The DMC is making all efforts to spruce up Dhanbad, which had languished at the bottom of the 73 cities surveyed earlier this year in cleanliness parameters.

Today, 50 DMC supervisors and workers and 150 jawans and officers of the 154th battalion of the CRPF pledged to keep the town clean before hitting roads with brooms and spreading awareness on the need for household toilets.

Deputy commandant of 154th Battalion Ajit Kumar, Dhanbad mayor Chandrashekhar Agrawal and chief executive officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar led the rally, which started from the corporation office at Bank More around 10am and ended at BCCL general manager's office in Bastacola, via Matkuria Road and Dhansar.

CEO Kumar said the DMC was ready. "Ranking will depend on marks secured on different aspects of cleanliness, its infrastructure, planning and implementation, feedback from residents via telephonic queries, and ground-level survey," said Kumar. "Of the total 2,000 marks, 900 are for the existing infrastructure, its development, planning and implementation, 500 for ground-level survey, 300 for the mobile cleanliness app of the civic body and rest 300 for resident feedback," Kumar said.

The DMC has installed over 200 dustbins and will set up 10 static garbage compactors across 55 wards in Jharia, Dhanbad, Sindri, Katras and Chatatand circles.

He added they were appealing to residents to build toilets at homes. "People have been paid the first instalment of Rs 6,000 under individual household latrine project of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. We are ready to extend every support."

Mayor Agrawal added they were in the process of issuing a fresh tender for a solid waste management project. Around 100 acres was being acquired in Purbi Tundi to set up a waste recycling plant.