Patna: Next time, when you throw household wastes on roadside in the state capital, keep watch on the staff of Patna municipal corporation (PMC) around. For, the band of drummers and hand cymbals flanked by transgenders greet may you with garland made of wastes in the run up to Swachh Survekshan.
This is the new strategy resorted to by the Patna’s civic authority to sensitise the people, particularly those lacking the civic sense, about the need to keep the city clean and make the capital city improve its ranking in the upcoming Swachh Survekshan, which has been launched by the Central government.
“Besides, greeting with the team of drummers and hand cymbals made of household wastes, a bunch of specially designed garlands made of kitchen consumables have been prepared to ‘honour’ the violators of good practices,” said PMC commissioner Animesh Kumar Parashar, briefing about the strategy to bring about qualitative change in city’s sanitation outlook.
Officials said that the PMC has identified as many as 147 garbage vulnerable points (GVP) in 19 out of 75 wards to clean up for ever in the first phase of the drive. “The GVP are the areas, where people invariably dump their municipal wastes on roadside instead of putting them on the garbage collection vehicles. More than 1,700 institutions and individuals have been identified as the spoilers,” said a senior municipal officer.
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The PMC officials have also proposed to paste a white chart near the GVPs and list the names of those throwing garbage there. “The persons found spoiling the places would be penalised, if they refused to correct their habit,” said an officer, adding that they had proposed setting up a sector-wise WhatsApp group of residents of each ward for better monitoring of the sanitation drive.
The corporation has also decided to add mechanical and manpower resources to step up cleanliness in the city. “All major streets will be cleaned up with vacuum fitted mechanised brooms and roads will be washed at nights. Additional number of sweepers have been engaged in to clean the city on a regular basis,” said the officer.
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The drive to keep the city clean has been stepped up to get positive response from the people at large towards the PMC’s endeavours to ensure proper civic amenities in the capital city. The people would be put on board and exhorted to vote for the city’s sanitation bid once the Swachh Sarvekshan is open for voting next month.
Patna has been 44th rank among 47 urban local bodies in the 6th edition of Swachh Survekshan 2021, the report of which was released by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) this year. In the survey, 4,320 cities participated in 2021-22. The cities were evaluated for a total of 6,000 marks divided into three categories, including citizen’s voice, certifications and service level programme.
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Last year, Patna stood last among all 47 urban local bodies with a population of more than 10 lakh.
