Bhubaneswar, June 8: Conservancy lanes across the city are a major health problem as they remain dumped with garbage and wastewater. With monsoon round the corner, the municipal corporation has started a cleanliness drive to clean these lanes and avert the threat of vector-borne diseases.
"Conservancy lanes are dirty in most parts of the city. The lanes are often the favourite place to dump waste, including construction and demolition debris. As waste piles up and water accumulates, these lanes become the breeding ground for various vector-borne diseases," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.
He said the civic body received a number of complaints regarding the mess that these lanes were in. In a prompt move the corporation decided to take specific initiative to clean the lanes. "We started work from Unit I and will cover other areas of the city later," said Jena.
The civic body has also decided to undertake an awareness drive, requesting people not to litter these lanes with garbage. "We have formed a special squad to monitor the cleanliness drive. The squad will also take care of the maintenance of the lanes. They will undertake an awareness drive asking people not to dump garbage in the lanes," said a civic body official.
Conservancy lanes are the space between rows of houses. Such lanes are found in the city mainly where the general administration department had developed government quarters. The lanes are meant for passage of emergency vehicles such as fire engines and ambulances. However, with the passage of time, the lanes have turned into dump yards for the nearby houses.
"Conservancy lanes are not serving the purpose they were built for. They have become a sheer waste of space and since they are one of the open spaces in any surroundings, it has become a good place for people to dump their garbage. The situations of the lanes are such that it has became a favourite breeding site for mosquitoes," said Hemant Padhi, 45, a resident of Unit I.
The lanes are similarly dirty at other places such as Unit II, Saheed Nagar and Kharavela Nagar. A few years ago, residents of Unit II had voluntarily cleaned the conservancy lanes in their area and turned them into beautiful gardens. However, due to lack of coordination between them and support from the civic body, the lanes have again turned into dump yards.
"We did take the initiative to turn the lanes into beautiful gardens, but couldn't maintain them due to lack of co-ordination among us. The civic body can replicate the initiative. We are ready to support them," said Mirzia Mahakud, a resident of Unit II.
Environmentalists welcomed the move. "The civic body can't be successful just by cleaning the lanes. If they plant trees and turn the lanes into small parks, they won't turn back into dump yards. People will not litter such places," said environmentalist and city resident Alok Mohanty.
