The rath yatra leaves behind a trail of garbage on Grand Road every year. But, the municipality claims to be ready to tackle the challenge this year. And the key lies in getting down to work on the same night rather than waiting for a new day to dawn.

A Puri Municipality officer said they were ready with two earth-removing vehicles fitted with panes for the cleaning.

“One vehicle will collect abandoned shoes, polythene packets and sundry litter that pile up, while the other will load the garbage on to trucks and tractors. We plan to start mass sweeping from midnight, so that the roads are cleaned before morning,” said vice-chairperson of the civic body Sabyasachi Mohapatra, who is also in charge of sanitation and cleanliness.

Mohapatra said 100 sweepers had been engaged for round-the-clock cleaning on the 2-km stretch between Jagannath temple and Gundicha temple. Besides, about 100 other sweepers will be pressed into service to make other parts of the holy town spic-and-span.

An official said they had planned to spend around Rs 70 lakh for the sanitation activities, Rs 30 lakh for lighting and Rs 50 lakh for repair of roads.

For the past two months, over 50 truckloads of garbage have been collected from the town daily. Fourteen tractors are also clearing up the littered Grand Road every day. Sources said over two lakh people in Puri generate solid waste of around 100 metric tonnes everyday, but it exceeded 200 metric tonnes on occasions such as rath yatra, bahuda yatra and suna besha.

During rath yatra, the solid waste includes mostly left-behind shoes, plastic bottles, polythene pouches, leaflets, pamphlets, coconut shells and flowers. Last year, around 50,000 shoes were found lying scattered on Grand Road after the chariots had been pulled to their destination. The civic body has 12 tractors to carry garbage from the town and 17 huge dustbins have been installed at various locations across Puri.

“The waste materials are sent to a treatment plant at Baliapanda along the seaside. The garbage are segregated there with modern technology and treated to produce compost and manure,” said Mohapatra.

An official said they ensured that the drains were cleaned regularly and a sudden spell of shower did not create any problem related to overflowing. Desiltation will be finished before tomorrow. Besides, cleaning has also been intensified on the beach.

The district administration expects more than 12 lakh devotees, tourists, volunteers and others to congregate here for the festival. Keeping this in mind, the municipality has formed three temporary sheds at Talabania for seating around 5,000 people with drinking water and toilet facilities. Another 300 makeshift toilets have been set up at various locations, including Grand Road. New toilets have been created near Bagala Dharmasala, blood bank, taxi station, the temple’s Singha Dwar and Market Square on both sides of Bada Danda.

The municipality has put up a makeshift shed for stray cows and bulls near urban haat. “We are trying to ensure that Puri is free of garbage, so that devotees and tourists do not have any complaints regarding the sanitation standards here,” said another official.