Jamshedpur: The steel city's landmark Marine Drive is no longer synonymous with garbage heaps and overflowing bins.

Better coordination between Tata Steel's utility wing Jusco and Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC), which looks after the civic needs in non-company command areas, has resulted in a cleaner Marine Drive, an unusual sight only a month ago.

"We had a series of meetings with Jusco in the run-up to Swachh Survekshan (pan-India sanitation survey) and decided for a concerted effort at cleaning the important artery (Marine Drive) and its nearby urban slums without passing the buck to each other over area demarcations. We have asked our sanitation workers (outsourced to contractors) not to wait for Jusco and clear any garbage found alongside Marine Drive near urban slums. Similarly, Jusco, apart from cleaning Marine Drive, will also lift garbage from urban slums close to Marine Drive," JNAC special officer Sanjay Kumar Pandey said.

JNAC's GPS-fitted garbage collection fleet has also enabled the civic body to keep track of trash collection by workers near Marine Drive. A permanent team of JNAC sanitation workers has also been deputed at Domuhani to do rounds of the adjoining areas.

Jusco maintains the four-lane Marine Drive and its service lane while JNAC maintains civic amenities at the urban slums along the 11km stretch from Sakchi till Adityapur toll bridge.

The Marine Drive witnesses the movement of over 2,000 heavy vehicles carrying goods to the industrial units in Adityapur and Gamharia and to Tata Steel via Shastrinagar and Bistupur.

"We decided to continue with the good work done prior to the inspection by the Union urban development ministry team for Swachh Survekshan 2018. Our workers have increased their frequency of cleaning bins along Marine Drive and clearing garbage from even beyond our command area," Jusco spokesperson Rajesh Rajan said.

The Swachh Survekshan team had conducted document verification between February 21 and 24 at the JNAC office while field verification was held between February 26 and March 7.

Residents are pleased with the turn of events.

"Earlier, Jusco and JNAC used to pass the buck to each other citing area of operation and usually it took more than a week for garbage-related complaints to be addressed. Now, the roads are cleaned early in the morning by both Jusco and JNAC without indulging in a blame game. We hope that they continue to operate in such a manner," Sonari resident and Bistupur-based businessman Divesh Makhani said.