Bhubaneswar, Aug. 2: The civic body has decided to launch a special Swachh Bazaar campaign across markets to ensure smooth collection and management of solid waste.

The drive, which will encompass markets it manages and those managed by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, aims to identify bulk waste generators and sensitise them about source segregation as well as safe disposal.

When The Telegraph visited some of these markets today we, however, found a different story. Major markets, including the vegetable market at Unit-I, Rajdhani Haat at Unit-II, vegetable market at Unit-IV, Kalyani Market at Unit-VIII and a few others remain in a sorry state as far as solid waste management is concerned.

None of these markets have waste bins and neither are the waste generators aware of dumping garbage at proper places.

"Rotten vegetables are dumped on the roadside. This spreads filth and creates an unhygienic situation in and around the area," said Dibakar Mishra, a shopper at the Unit-IV market.

The situation is similar at Kalyani Market. The shopkeepers complained that neither the development authority nor the civic body cared about its general maintenance or cleanliness. They alleged that the administration had turned a blind eye to their daily struggles, adding that the building was decades old and was on the verge of collapse.

Suryakant Sawin, a shopkeeper at the market, said the complex has nearly 92 kiosks and over 118 small pindis.

"Cleanliness is a major concern. The civic body has not provided any waste bins, which forces us to throw the garbage at random places. Even if we dump waste at one single place, the civic body's cleaning staff leave it there for days," said Swain.

However, the municipal corporation offered a different take on the cleanliness issue here. "We have set up designated sites for dumping garbage. The shopkeepers should dump the waste at these sites, following which our officials will go and collect it. It is the duty of the shopowners to keep their premises clean," said a civic official.

The situation is worse at the city's biggest vegetable market at Unit-I. This market witnesses an average footfall of 10,000 daily. The vendors as well as customers at this market are forced to conduct their daily business amid a fetid and smelly surrounding with garbage strewn around.

The continuous rain over the past few weeks worsened the situation and exposed the lack of a proper drainage system. "We depend on this market for our daily needs. The produce here is fresh and comparatively cheaper. But it lacks maintenance and it is a failure of the civic body," said homemaker Kalpana Das, a customer at the Unit-II market.

Rajadhani Haat at Unit-I, more popularly known as Market Building which is home to stores selling a wide range of products from food to cloth to day-to-day things to electronic goods, is the city's most visited market. Though the civic body recently made a minor facelift and installed colour-coded dustbins, the lack of awareness ensured that the bins remained under-utilised.

"This market is an attraction mainly for outsiders and should be maintained accordingly. Both vendors and visitors waywardly dump waste. The civic workers do lift the garbage, but there is a need for a team that will maintain the cleanliness of the market on a 24x7 basis," said Mamata Dash, a cloth-store owner.

Several shopowners at these markets claimed that the sanitary staff only clear waste that is dumped on the roadside and do not enter the premises. However, according to civic officials, it was the duty of the shopkeepers' associations of the respective markets to ensure cleanliness of the space.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said they were aware of the situation at the markets and maintaining them accordingly.

"We have deployed enough sanitary workers to maintain cleanliness at market areas. There is a need to make the visitors and the vendors aware, which we hope to do with the new campaign," he said.