Garbage spills out of a vat on Kutchery Road in Ranchi on Friday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Heaps of garbage and overflowing drains are proving to be a dampener during the festive season in the capital. Chhath Puja is round the corner, but the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC), despite tall claims to clean the city, seems to have miserably failed to live up to expectations.

Main Road, the artery of Ranchi, is in sorry state. Giant trashcans near the RIADA building are throwing up garbage that has been accumulating for days. Since the cans are full, residents are now disposing of household waste on the road, which is raising a stink.

The scene is no different at Old Hazaribagh Road, where RMC garbage cans have not been emptied for weeks and the trash has spilt onto the streets. A public bus stop and Prabha Apartments is littered with waste, mostly from a nearby posh hotel.

Apartment resident Sudipta De Sarkar said she had personally lodged complaints with the civic body, but in vain. “I have spoken to officials from RMC and requested them to clean the road, but my requests have fallen on deaf ears and there is no way we can remove these mounds of garbage all by ourselves,” she added.

A host of other places — Upper Bazar, Kutchery Road, Albert Ekka Chowk, Circular Road and Club Road — have also turned into dumping grounds. Despite directives issued by chief minister Arjun Munda, neither the civic body nor the administration has been able to tackle the problem.

The RMC had outsourced the job of cleaning the city to private agency A2Z, which hied workers to clean neighbourhoods and streets, but precious little has been done, say residents.

“The A2Z employee comes every morning. We empty our garbage in boxes on his three-wheeled cart. The same is then emptied into the larger trashcan for being transported to dumping grounds on the outskirts. But the truck to carry the cans is seldom seen and garbage lies unattended for days,” said Ashok Nagar resident Akshat Behl.

A2Z general manager Arun Kumar pleaded helplessness. He said they were experiencing staff crunch. “We are working with minimal strength. Many employees have not reported to work after holidays,” Kumar said, but promised clean up before Chhath.

“We have 18 compact cars, which collect trash from the specified dumping areas. The cars operate in three shifts and will clean up the capital. I am personally inspecting localities and will issue directives to my subordinates, if necessary,” he added.