Cuttack, Sept. 26: The municipal corporation has drawn flak for failing to undertake a sanitation drive ahead of the festive season.

The delay in finalisation the global tender for solid waste management and low-pressure induced rain over the past four days have compounded miseries and added to poor sanitation across the city. Garbage piles are found lying unattended all over the city, causing resentment among residents of the city.

The backlog of waste collection, much of which was generated during the last leg of the Ganesh Puja immersion observed yesterday, has delayed the process, an official of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation said today.

However, a two-prolonged strategy has been laid out to maintain sanitation during Durga Puja in the city, said municipal commissioner Gyana Das.

"We have decided to deploy additional sanitary workers to conduct two-time sweeping especially near puja pandals in various parts of the city," said Das.

Das added that today onwards, three personnel had been provided to each ward to trim bushes and clear clogged drains in all the 59 wards ahead of the festive season.

"A huge crowd throngs the city during Durga Puja, which is observed here in a grand manner. If the civic body does not take urgent steps to streamline waste management, devotees as well as residents will certainly have a harrowing time," said Buxi Bazaar resident Shanti Sahu.

City health officer P.K. Pradhan told The Telegraph that it was usually the waste generated during the immersion ceremony that created problems for the civic body every year.

According to an estimate, nearly 100 metric tonnes of garbage is generated during the immersion ceremony every year. Besides, an additional 50 tonnes of waste is also generated from the three temporary ponds that the civic body set up for the immersion of nearly 155 idols near Debigada last year.

At present, the city generates nearly 200 to 250 metric tonnes of waste every day, while 30 per cent of the waste that is left over is cleared the next day.

"We usually deploy extra manpower to clear the waste generated on the traditional immersion route from Mangalabag to Debigada via Buxi Bazaar, Dargha Bazaar and Choudhry Bazaar every year. This time also, we will be following the same practice," said Pradhan.

Pradhan said each puja pandal would be provided with dustbins, so that the waste generated from the mandap could easily be collected by sanitary workers for quick disposal.

The civic body has procured 200 dustbins at an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakh, and depending on size and waste generated each day, each mandap will be either provided with one or two dustbins, he said.