Rourkela: At a time when this year’s Swachh Survekshan is being carried out, residents here feel that such a survey has no meaning as they blamed the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) for failing to maintain cleanliness. Notably, Rourkela’s rank in last year’s Swachh Survekshan, the world’s largest urban sanitation and cleanliness survey, was 57 among the 372 Indian cities. “This is a big farce. I hold the RMC responsible for making Rourkela dirty.
For the last couple of days, the sludge cleaned from a manhole in front of my house is still lying there. It is the duty of the RMC to clean immediately after cleaning,” said a woman at Koel Nagar. She added, “Dry sludge enters the home when the wind blows. Are we all paying taxes for this?” A senior citizen at Civil Township made another interesting observation in this regard. “Look at the construction sites and you will understand. As long as work is going on the area remains dirty. After work is over, the leftover materials and dug earth are not removed.
Is it cleanliness?” he asked expressing disappointment. In another observation, Sudesh Babu, a schoolboy at Basanti Colony who catches school bus near one of the dustbins kept on the roadside, said, “The bins are not cleaned regularly and one usually finds stray dogs or cows salvaging food from these bins while spilling the dirt on the road.” Sometimes it becomes impossible to stand near the bins because of bad odour. RMC should do something in this regard, he said.
RMC, during the period of Dibyajyoti Parida had made a rule that no construction material or debris should be left in front of any house after work is over. This was followed in letter and spirit for a while and this drive stopped. “So, contractors flouting this rule are punishable. Is the municipality doing anything in this regard,” asked one Mahesh Sharma at Chhend. Similar sentiments were in abundance when Orissa POST interacted with residents. When this was brought to the notice of RMC Deputy Commissioner Sudhansu Bhoi, he accepted that he had received such complaints from different sources. “It has already been discussed and soon you will see action being undertaken by RMC to make the city clean and green. We aim to achieve a better rank in this year’s survey,” he said.