Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to deploy sanitation workers to inspect streets where open drains are clogged due to dumping of waste by street food vendors and clear them, after citizen reporters flagged concerns.Soumyadeep Mitra wrote on TOI Citizen Reporter portal, “There is absolutely no inspection of internal drains in Bhubaneswar. Most of the internal drains are clogged by leftover food and plastic and paper containers, as food vendors don’t keep dustbins.”
Kalinga Keshari Mohapatra, another citizen reporter, wrote, “Drains along sub-arteries are there to direct stormwater as well as household liquid waste. But the scene in the capital city is different. The drains serve as dumping stations for roadside eateries to dump waste. The BMC sanitation team should wake up.”It was found that open drains at Infocity Square, Trident Square, and in many places in Nayapalli, Rasulgarh, Kharavela Nagar, Salia Sahi and Ekamra Kanan were choked with garbage, mainly food waste. “BMC has sanitation teams that take garbage from the designated dustbins and through door-to-door collection. Also, roadside pile-up points are attended to, but the drains are overlooked,” Sripad Behera, a resident of Nayapalli, said.In response, BMC deputy commissioner (sanitation) N Ganesh Babu said, “Drains can’t be left to be filled with food waste — cups, plates, and leftover food. We asked the sanitary teams to check open drains where vendors dump food packets. Initially, the vendors will be also sensitised on how to avoid choking drains and adopt the practice of disposing of waste in dustbins.”BMC’s sanitation wing also said that it conducts special inspections of drains to prevent littering during monsoon, and there will be a special drive now as well. “Actually, there are some drains, which have been newly constructed, which need to be covered with slabs. Some are covered, but many are left. Once all the drains are covered, vendors can’t dump waste into them,” Babu added.In response to the concerns expressed by citizen reporters, the civic body also plans to demonstrate to food vendors how to make proper use of dustbins, as they install one but don’t ask customers to dump food plates there.
