Bhubaneswar: The civic body has intensified cleanliness activities across the city as part of stringent steps to keep it clean and green.

In a public notice, the municipal corporation has asked shopkeepers and street vendors using plastic to register with the civic body for a monthly fee of Rs 4,000 or an annual charge of Rs 48,000 under the new plastic waste management rules.

Shopkeepers have also been asked to keep two separate waste bins to dump waste. Violations would incur a fine of Rs 5,000, it has warned. Road sweeping and door-to-door garbage collection are also being done thrice a day instead of the earlier practice of once daily.

The move comes in view of the ongoing national level Swachh Survekshan III survey that the state capital is taking part along with other cities. A central team is scheduled to visit the city on February 5 to assess it on cleanliness parameters.

"We always prioritise cleanliness. The city ranked 94th among 500 competing cities in the last survey. It is bigger this time with more than 4,000 cities taking part and we want to maintain our streak. Citizens should contribute to our efforts," said a civic official.

The state capital will go through a three-tier assessment process - service level progress for 1,400 points, independent validation and direct observation that carries 1,200 points, and citizens' feedback for another 1,400 points - during the survey. The civic body has already started a social media campaign asking people to air their views regarding cleanliness.

It organised an orientation camp for ward members to create awareness about the survey on Thursday and has decided to decentralise the process. Ward-level officials will now undertake a rigorous monitoring system of cleanliness in their respective areas.

"Earlier, the civic body's sweepers could only be seen in the mornings. Now, I can see them twice or thrice a day. The bins are cleaner and on time. I am surprised by such dedicated work," said Gaja Vihar resident Vimal Hota.

"The central team will assess the city's progress on maintaining cleanliness in the past year. We did a number of things, including increasing the number of toilets and waste bins, and intensifying road sweeping. The activities will continue accordingly and we will fare well in the survey this time too," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.