Ranchi: A few residents and shops of Burdwan Compound, one of Ranchi's most sought-after living areas, are playing spoiler to Ranchi Municipal Corporation's efforts to initiate clean-up measures ahead of a cleanliness survey that it hopes will help improve its national ranking.

Several shopkeepers were openly flouting RMC guidelines about keep two dustbins outside their shops in an effort to segregate waste into wet and dry. Some local residents, who are either constructing or renovating their house, have dumped construction material on the road.

In addition to these eyesores, some stretches of the locality were littered with garbage.

"This lack of civic sense is restricted to a few residents who don't know the importance of cleanliness. You can't blame RMC for every mess. And if you tell such people to follow the rules they will take it otherwise," said Samir Lahiri, a retired government employee.

Asked why he was flouting the RMC's directive, a shopkeeper replied that he did not feel dustbins were required.

Councillor Shravan K. Mahto admitted RMC needed to deal with such violations firmly. "Two months back, a team from the civic body had visited the locality and directed all shopkeepers to set up bins. If there are violations, RMC should take strong action against the erring shopkeepers," he said.

Situated at Lalpur, Burdwan Compound is home to over 5000 people living in apartments and standalone homes. It is under RMC ward 20. Asked whether proper sanitation drives were undertaken by RMC, Subhajit Ghosh, a longtime resident, said he did not have any reason to complain.

"On an average 15 safai workers are deployed for this locality. In the past few months, RMC has indeed improved its functioning in the area," he said, adding that door-to-door garbage collection wasn't regular earlier.

Some parts of the locality have been facing drainage issues. However, the state urban development department has begun attending to the problem.

Subham Singh, an engineering student who is a tenant, spoke of another problem: menace of strays. "If you venture here after sunset then be careful. You will chased by street dogs on every street. Three days back I was bitten by a dog," he claimed.

Local vegetable seller Asit Kumar admitted that stray dogs were a problem. "Three months back I was also attacked by dogs. Last month, we had informed RMC about the problem. Accordingly, a team of dog catchers trapped some dogs. But a week later all the dogs were back," he said.

The good thing about the area is that the streetlights work. Water supply was fairly regular aided by five well-maintained public bore-wells. But for the past fortnight, residents of K Mallick Road have been complaining that they were getting muddy water due to pipeline leaks.

Councillor Mahto said the water issue would be sorted out by the weekend. "Regarding the dog menace, I have requested RMC to carry out a drive again," he said.