Asansol, Feb. 28: Asansol Municipal Corporation has finally woken up and smelt the coffee - er... garbage.

The civic body has announced rewards for councillors and conservancy employees to keep Asansol clean after a central report on cleanliness placed it almost at the bottom of a list of 73 cities in the country.

As part of the "Clean Asansol, Green Asansol" project taken up by mayor Jitender Tiwari, three councillors and three conservancy employees will get rewards and additional funds based on their performance every year.

The performance of the civic body members would be based on feedback of residents of the areas they are in charge of and assessment by borough committee chairpersons.

"A reward system will encourage them to keep the town clean. We have initially decided to award top three performers. Three conservancy employees will get rewards in kind worth between Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000. The councillors will get additional funds between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 10 lakh," mayor Tiwary said.

The rewards will be announced on December 25 every year.

Mayoral council member Lakhan Thakur said the civic body had around 2,200 conservancy employees and the number would be increased for the new project to clean the town.

"We need more conservancy staff to keep the vast area clean. We have also decided to give them masks, gloves, shoes and clothes while they are on duty," Thakur said.

According to the central report on cleanliness released last month, Asansol, comprising 106 municipal wards after merging with the Raniganj, Jamuria and Kulti municipalities, has ranked 72 in a list of 73 cities.

The rankings were based on three parameters - service-level data (1.000 points) that looked at the cities' strategy for waste disposal; the survey teams' analysis of slum areas, public and commercial locations and public toilets (500 points); and citizen feedback (500 points).

In terms of waste disposal, Asansol scored only 84. It got 168 in keeping slum and commercial areas clean and 168 on citizens' feedback.

Asked about the poor performance of the Burdwan town, mayor Tiwari said the survey was done before the civic board took up the "Clean Asansol, Green Asansol" project in January.

"We took up the project in January. The survey was done before that,' Tiwari said.

He declined comment when asked why the civic body needed to take up a special project to provide basic cleanliness to residents.

"We had floated tenders to purchase compactor machines that help in easy disposal of waste. But we failed to purchase the machines as we did not get funds from the Centre as part of its Swacch Bharat plan," he said.

The mayor said the civic body would buy other modern equipment as part of its clean Asansol project.

He said the councillors had been told to involve local clubs and NGOs in the cleanness drive and personally monitor the process.

"I have asked the councillors to involve local clubs and NGOs in their areas. The clubs and NGOs will also be given some rewards to keep their area clean. Each councillor will have to visit his area regularly," Tiwari said.