Bhubaneswar, Oct. 4: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) monitoring of garbage collection and lifting has paid dividends. The city looks cleaner this Puja.
A month ago, the city’s sanitary condition was in a mess, as garbage-lifting work had become difficult because of incessant rain. After the rain stopped towards the last week of September, the city health office took steps to clean up Bhubaneswar as its unclean surroundings drew flak even from the state government. Though late, the internal monitoring mechanism of the collection, transportation and dumping of solid waste materials by the BMC authorities was put on track once again.
On many occasions, the corporation’s councillors had also alleged that there was no way to measure how many trips of solid waste were lifted by contractors from the 1,300 temporary transit points (TTPs) to the six interim transit stations (ITS) on a single day.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: “The contractors were showing a list of collection of garbage by tractors from TTPs to ITS and by trucks from ITS to Bhuasuni for final dumping. But we posted sanitation officials at the ITS to count the trips done by tractors and at Bhuasuni to count the trips by trucks. Within days, it came to our notice that there was a disparity in the numbers claimed by the contractors and what they actually performed. The sanitation inspectors were asked to strictly monitor the trips. If anyone fails to perform his duty, chargesheets will be issued against him by the BMC.’’
“We have fixed the responsibility of the sanitation officials. We have also done a ward-wise review of the sanitation situation, which has created a good response. As the review was carried out before the Puja, the city is reaping the benefits now. Cleaning was carried out on roads and near every Puja pandal on a war footing. The new street-sweeping machine also helped a lot,’’ said deputy municipal commissioner Priyadarshi Mohapatra.
BMC sources said: “The city generates more than 440 tonnes of solid waste in a day. However, during the Puja season the pandals might be generating an extra 10 tonnes or more waste as thousands of people visit the pandals in the evenings and the areas turn into small fair grounds.’’
Mohapatra added that the internal assessment of the solid waste collection and disposal system would be helpful for the new wards under the privatisation scheme where 11 more wards were included recently. Earlier, sanitation services in 40 out of 60 wards of the BMC were tagged under the privatisation mode, where contractors were engaged to collect, transport and dump solid waste generated in their respective areas.
City health officer Chandrika Prasad Das said: “There was a lot of criticism for the sanitation mess during the rains. But on many occasions it was found that rain-soaked garbage was difficult to manage by the limited staff in the BMC-managed wards. However, once the sky became clear, the sanitation staff worked overnight before the Puja ensuring a better environment.’’
Sk Nizamudin, chairman of the BMC Standing Committee on Sanitation, said: “At present, the corporation has got nearly 1,100 sanitation workers. But as no fresh appointments were made after retirement, privatisation of 11 new wards has become the only alternative to sustain the pressure to keep the city clean. The surplus staff from these 11 wards can also contribute for the malaria control programme in future.’’
Councillor of ward No. 41 Pratap Kumar Jena, however, was not convinced. While opposing the privatisation move, he alleged that the privatisation move had become a medium to loot the corporation through false billing and work execution without proper supervision. “The new wards might show some good results in the beginning. But the situation will soon be the same like the 40 other wards privatised earlier,’’ he said.
