An aerial view of Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das.

Cuttack, Dec. 30: The New Year is expected to bring cheer to the faces of many people in the Millennium City. Mechanised sweeping of roads, seats for waiting passengers at bus stands across the city and provision of kiosks and display screens for messages are on the anvil.

All eyes would be on the implementation of the Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management Project that envisages the introduction of mechanised sweeping of main roads of the city while prohibiting manual handling of garbage.

The project, proposed to be launched by January end, would be crucial for street cleaning, drain upkeep and collection and disposal of garbage in the city. Handling of garbage in all the 52 wards would be handed over to a private operator under a five-year contract. In September, Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) had floated a national tender inviting bids for sweeping, collection, transportation and disposal of municipal solid waste. Three private parties had responded. They are already in the final stages of scrutiny by the evaluation committee.

“Inauguration of the Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management Project has been planned for January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose,” mayor Saumendra Ghosh said.The civic body hopes to save around Rs 25 lakh every month by engaging a private operator for the daily primary collection, storage, segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of garbage. CMC currently spends Rs 1.25 crore every month towards solid waste management in the city.

In October, CMC had invited tenders for design, finance, erection and maintenance of 11 bus shelters in the city in build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The project, planned to be completed over a period of one month through a five-year contract with private operators, had aroused expectations as the civic body promised bus stands in different places across the city with sitting arrangements for the public, provision for kiosks and display screens for messages.

“It’s a civic need which has remained virtually ignored in the city,” said Ashok Das (50), a resident of Kanika Chak.

The locations that have been identified are— in front of Ravenshaw University, OMP Square (near Market Complex), in front of BSNL office (Link Road), in front of Nishamani Talkies, in front of Arunodaya Nagar Market, opposite Hotel Grand Residency, in front of Puri bus stand (Badambadi), in front of Eye Hospital (Markatnagar), opposite side of market complex in sector 6 of Markatnagar and in front of Shailabala Women’s College.In November, CMC commissioner R.N. Nanda had, through a public notice, invited owners of tanks and ponds to avail financial assistance under different schemes in a bid to renovate the dying water bodies of the city.

“The development and conservation of the water bodies is being undertaken in pursuance of a high court order as part of a beautification process vis-à-vis serving the environmental needs of the people of the city,” the CMC commissioner said.

“The success of the civic body’s apparent bid to protect and conserve water bodies in the city and in the process make the tanks and ponds that are decaying accessible for public use assumes significance as the city which once had more than 1400 tanks and water bodies was reportedly left with 200 odd now”, said Dillip Mohapatra (47), a lawyer and resident of Chandini Chouk area.