Bhubaneswar: The civic body decked up the state capital with a modern graffiti and wall painting drive in May ahead of the Asian Athletics Championships.

Now, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has had to take up a fresh drive to beautify the city once more after its failure to maintain the art damaged most.

During the drive in May, the civic authorities had painted the boundary walls of government buildings, including official residences of bureaucrats and ministers, with modern graffiti. But encroachment by local vendors have reduced their visibility. At other places, dumped garbage cover the artworks.

At most places in Unit-I and Unit-II, vendors conduct their trade beside the boundary walls of government quarters. They hang their exhibits on the walls, blocking the line of view.

Even the mayor's Unit-II residence is not exempt. "It is not responsible of the administration to spend so much money on the paintings and then leave it unattended. They should intensify their enforcement so that the paintings serve their purpose," said Dibya Mishra, a shopper at Unit-I Market.

Older wall paintings in other parts of the city that depicted the art, culture and tradition of Odisha have also fallen prey to irregular dumping of garbage and, at few places, open urination. In 2008, the civic body initiated the process to paint the walls to depict the state's culture and tradition and roped in different artists to take up the job. Such sites along the Janpath, on Bidyut Marg and Sachivalaya Marg have taken the charm away from the creative work.

"It is nothing but the administration's sheer failure to maintain these beautiful wall paintings. How can someone urinate on such beautiful work? The situation arises because the civic body itself since they failed to clear the garbage dumped in front of the walls, and people just assumed that it was a dump yard," said social worker Alok Mohanty.

However, the administration's decision to take up another phase of beatification drive when it has already failed to maintain the existing paintings and plantations has residents scratching their heads for an explanation.

"They should first come up with a mechanism to maintain the artwork before embarking on a new drive. Wasting money and resources in this way is not an ideal thing to do," said Mohanty.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation decided to take up the fresh drive in an attempt to beautify the city before next December's Men's Hockey World Cup in the city, which is being hailed as the sports capital of the country after successfully hosting two major international events - the Asian Athletics Championships and the Hockey World League Final - in recent months.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, on the other hand, assured the citizens that the fresh paintings and plantations would be done in a manner that they will serve their purpose.

"We will look after the existing work and evict the vendors wherever they encroach upon the paintings. We will also ensure proper monitoring of the new artwork. We have also taken inputs from the artists on the methods to save their works," said Jena.

The civic body has also formed a special committee for the purpose.