Cuttack, April 18: Residents of Cuttack are yet to reap the benefits of the mechanised sweeping and integrated solid waste management project that began nearly one year ago.

Heaps of garbage are stilldumped at many localities in the city, which is causing inconvenience to the residents.

“Things are yet to improve as there has been no change in the overall sanitation scenario in the city,” said Ashok Sahu, 45, a local resident. According to Sahu, Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) is the first civic body to have introduced the mechanised sweeping of roads and the integrated solid waste management project in the state. However, residents are still reeling under acute civic neglect, as there have been problems in removing garbage from various points in the city, Sahu said.

CMC has signed a five-year contract with Hyderabad-based Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL) for the overall solid waste collection and disposal in the city.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated both the projects on May 16 last year.

Not only people, various councillors across party lines have time and again opposed the functioning of REEL, which had been awarded the contract for maintaining all round sanitation.

Moreover, two councillors today sat on a dharna in front of the CMC office, demanding immediate measures to improve sanitation at their respective wards.

“Despite privatisation of various wards, things are yet to change as the REEL officials have failed to address various issues at different localities in the city,” said councillor of ward No. 27 Laxmipriya Samantray.

Similarly, the councillor of ward No. 53, Kousik Jena, also echoed similar views about the sanitation measures in the city. CMC sources said REEL was engaged in collection, transportation and disposal of municipal waste in 36 out of 54 wards in the city.

Though a lot of compact bins have been placed at various localities, it has failed to address the problem, as a lot of garbage has been lying unattended for days.

On the other hand, CMC officials have also admitted that though there had been a considerable improvement in the overall sanitation measure, REEL was yet to achieve 100 per cent success.

“We have been reviewing the work of the company every fortnight and so far, it has failed to achieve the desired results, for which we have been penalising the organisation for violation,” said CMC commissioner R.N. Nanda.

According to Nanda, because of unavailability of better roads there were problems using the mechanised sweeping process. However, now things have changed, and efforts are on streamline both mechanized sweeping as well as integrated solid waste management in the city.