The special sanitation drive, conducted jointly by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the State Health department, hit a roadblock when it reached ward number 50, on Saturday.
More than 200 people had gathered for the awareness programme. However, it could not be carried forward as the people of ward number 50, Badagada, were agitated that they were not provided with the T-shirts that they were promised.
“During the last corporation meeting, it was decided that 5,000 T-shirts will be distributed equally amongst the 60 wards for the special sanitation drive. The BMC should have provided banners and a vehicle with hoarding for the drive. None of it was there,” said corporator of ward number 50, Ashok Singh.
It was then decided that they will not go ahead with the sanitation awareness programme. Singh also added that the BMC officials were not present during the drive. “They are unable to manage the existing number of wards and yet they are planning to include five more gram panchayats to extend the city’s border,” Singh said. The sanitation drive is meant at educating the denizens about keeping the city clean. The Health department has provided two of its staff for assisting the programme. The special drive has completed 10 days and till date 40 wards have been covered. The special drive is supposed to be completed by August 15.
The main purpose of the drive is to remove debris and construction material that are lying on the roads. The people of ward 50 were agitated further when the BMC staff just cleaned the garbage, but did not touch the debris. “We cannot touch the construction material without police as it might lead to law and order situation,” explained BMC Deputy Commissioner K P Pati.
“They collected the garbage, but not remove the debris,” rued Singh. The people also complained that some T-shirts which were distributed for the sanitation drive were used ones.
The BMC officials state that a particular date was fixed where ward officers were expected to collect the materials for the special drive. “The officers, who came, were provided the materials,” Pati said.
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