Garbage dumped along a road side in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Sept. 28: Maintaining all round sanitation in the city is likely to remain a key challenge for the civic authorities during the Dussehra festival, which draws thousands of devotees here from different parts of the state.

At present, apart from debris, the city generates around 160-170 tonnes of garbage everyday.

But, it is expected that the daily garbage generation during Dussehra would go up to 200 tonnes. The civic officials, however, have said that adequate measures would be taken to maintain sanitation in the city during the festive season. City mayor Saumendra Ghose said the matter of faster collection and disposal of garbage from different points in the city during Dussehra would soon be discussed with officials of Hyderabad-based Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd (Reel).

Ramky is engaged in the work of daily collection and disposal of garbage and mechanised sweeping in 36 of 54 wards of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).

Besides, door-to-door collection, secondary garbage collection, and manual sweeping in the rest of the wards in the city are being done by them. The CMC had outsourced garbage collection and sweeping of roads. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the mechanised street-sweeping facility, along with city bus service, on May 16.

Ramky officials have said that steps would be taken towards daily collection and disposal of solid waste generated from different parts of the city during the festival.

“We have decided to increase both the frequency and number of vehicles used for garbage collection and disposal. Besides, additional dustbins will also be provided at different locations in the city,” said Ramky’s official D.S. Krishna.

In reality, however, many wards of the CMC are reeling from neglect. Residents of many areas of Cuttack are facing a lot of problems because of non-clearance of garbage on a daily basis.