Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the visit of national Survekshan team for the ongoing competition Swachh Survekshan-2018, the officials of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation are at their best in giving final touches to the city following the guidelines.
Garbage clearing is going on at a regular basis. Hoardings and banners have been put at strategic points to make people aware of keeping their city clean. City-based NGOs and SHGs have been roped in to extend their help in this direction. Slides at cinemas, jingles on FM channels, advertisements in newspapers and on TV channels have been taken up. People are being asked to download Swachhata App and give feedback on different parameters such as road conditions, public and community toilets, collection and disposal of solid waste and installation of dustbins. But at a time when the BMC is pulling out all the stops to do better in the competitions, any stir of workers, if occurs like the one last month when the smart city witnessed piles of garbage in lanes and by lanes for four days, may upset the apple cart.
Sources said the safei karmacharis working under BMC are not satisfied with the civic body for various reasons. These workers are reportedly going to launch a strike in coming days.
Out of total 67 wards, BMC itself is looking after the scavenging and garbage lifting in 10 wards, while PMR and Ramkey have 14 wards each and PRAGATI has a maximum 29 wards.
More than 400 scavengers and drivers working under PMR and over 700 and about 800 such workers working under Ramky and PRAGATI respectively launched agitation last month, while their counterparts, numbering about 600 in BMC, were on duty.
Sources revealed that the anti-larva workers (those who are engaged in spraying mosquito oil, smoke etc) are not being provided with essential masks, gloves and shoes. They along with other workers have also not been getting uniforms, health check-up at regular intervals and extra payment for working on holidays like Independence Day, Republic Day etc for 7/8 years.
BMC Commissioner Krishan Kumar told the media on the sidelines of the 5th International Biennial Conference of Indian Heritage Cities Network press meet Thursday, that the BMC was making good the damage it suffered due to last month’s stir.
PNN