Garbage dumped on roadsides at Buxi Bazar in Cuttack. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Oct 9: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) seems to have become complacent with the overall sanitation measure as heaps of garbage can still be found dumped along roadsides in the city.

Though the corporation had done a remarkable job of maintaining all round cleanliness during the five-day long Dusshera, things were just the opposite after the completion of the immersion ceremony.

Garbage generated during the immersion ceremony held on Friday, was dumped along the roadside at different locations, including at Buxi Bazar area till 12 noon today.

“For the past 24 hours, garbage has been dumped just a few metres away from our house. Though civic officials had today inspected the area in the morning, the garbage was not lifted from the spot till noon,” said Sayed Asif, 25, a resident of Buxi Bazar.

Asif said residents were suffering because of the callous attitude of the officials as bad odour was emanating from the waste dumped on the road. Similar was the situation at Tinikonia Bagicha and Barapathar areas where heaps of garbage was dumped near the main road.

“For the first time, the CMC had done a good job in maintaining sanitation during the festive season. However, garbage is now lying scattered all over the place for the last couple of days after the immersion ceremony,” said Ramesh Sahu, 36, a resident of the city’s Tinikonia Bagicha area.

According to district administration officials, over three lakh devotees from various parts of the state had thronged the Millennium City to witness the immersion.

CMC is engaged in the garbage collection and disposal in 18 out of 54 wards in the city, while the Hyderabad based Ramky Environ Engineers Limited (REEL) is operating in the remaining 36 wards.

REEL was awarded the contract for the daily garbage collection and disposal besides mechanised sweeping of roads under the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan.

Moreover, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the much-awaited project in May.

On the other hand, CMC officials said that adequate measures were taken for the all-round sanitation during the festive season.

“The corporation was able to dispose extra tons of garbage generated during the festive season because of continuous efforts. However, as bulk of the sweeping staff had availed a holiday yesterday, there was some problems in regular garbage collection and disposal in some areas in the city after the immersion ceremony,” said city mayor Saumendra Ghose.

Ghose said there has been considerable improvement in the solid waste management in the city.

Moreover, efforts are on to remove the garbage dumped at various locations and all waste would be cleared by today evening.