Bhubaneswar: Repeated warnings and a decision to fine protesters littering the designated dharna site at Lower PMG Square has failed to yield results with the waste still raising a stink.
Agitators continue to urinate in the open leaving the place smelling fetid and foul and making life difficult for residents of nearby localities.
"The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation conducted cleanliness drives earlier, but that is missing. Garbage is dumped everywhere and people continue to urinate on the roadside. It is getting difficult to live here," said Namrata Panda, a local resident.
On December 7, the civic body announced financial sanctions for those littering the site and decided to conduct additional cleanliness drives with the amount collected. However, neither decision could be implemented.
The civic body had, at that time, decided to collect a minimum Rs 500 per day as sanitation charge from organisations if the number of protesters was under 100. For public meetings with 100 to 500 persons, the charge was Rs 1,000. If the participation went above 500, the charge was set at Rs 5 per person per day.
The announcement to levy fines was met by protests from political groups and other organisations that criticized it for such an arbitrary decision. "It is the duty of the civic body to clean the area," said Debesh Satpathy, a social worker.
A senior civic official said they were forced to back out from the decision because of the protests.
"Though we have backed out from the decision to levy fines, we haven't stopped the cleanliness drive. We conduct sweeping twice daily," he said.
The protesters, on the other hand, blamed the civic body for the present situation. "There are not enough dustbins here to throw garbage. They recently set up a toilet complex, but it cannot be utilised since they closed it soon after it was inaugurated. What can we do?," said a protester here on Wednesday.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said they were conducting regular cleanliness drives. "We provided 10 dustbins, but those are now broken due to under-utilisation. We will take steps to re-install the bins and direct our sanitation agency to intensify the cleanliness activities at the site," he said.
