Bhubaneswar, Sept. 20: The city administration has formed "Team Bhubaneswar" with top officials from the municipal corporation, the development authority and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) to ensure health and hygiene in the city.
The team has 12 senior Odisha Administrative Services (OAS) officers - seven from Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), four from Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and one from BSCL. It will be supervised directly by municipal commissioner Krishan Kumar.
The city has been divided into 12 sub-zones for all the 67 wards. One OAS officer will head each ward.
The segregated zones are Infocity, Xavier Institute Square, Vani Vihar, Siripur area, Bhubaneswar Smart District, Khandagiri, Iskcon area, Lingaraj area, Kuakhai area, BJB College area, airport and Cuttack Road area. "All the 67 wards have been divided into 12 zones, which will be headed by the zone nodal officer. They will report to the commissioner," said an official of the civic body.
Each zone nodal officer will work in three categories - public health, sanitation and enforcement. Under the public health category, the official will work on prevention of dengue, jaundice and other diseases, mobilise the community and conduct public awareness.
Under sanitation, the official will ensure sweeping, ensure door-to-door collection of waste, drain de-siltation and monitoring overall sanitation in the ward. They will also be responsible for enforcement of the activities at the ground level.
"The officials will look after mass awareness drives in schools, community awareness, sanitation work monitoring and eviction work when required," said the official adding the airport area will be given special emphasis to curb bird-hit incidents.
The BMC commissioner has instructed the carrying out of serious drives for prevention of dengue in all the wards as first assignment of the team.
"The officials have been instructed to identify key issues related to public health in all wards. They have also been asked to keep a list of parks, schools and other such institutions where special efforts will be given for prevention of dengue," said Kumar.
Team Bhubaneswar officials will conduct field visits in their assigned wards on a regular basis in the morning.
"We have formed the team to provide better sanitation and a healthy environment to the people of the city. We are also looking for co-operation of the public in this initiative, as without their help, the move will fall flat. The people should come forward and contribute to this noble initiative," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.
