CUTTACK: The laxity of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) towards environmental concerns has again been exposed as the filth and garbage left behind by the nine-day Baliyatra and Boita Bandana Utsav on Kartik Purnima before that are yet to be cleaned from the banks of river Mahanadi.
The river bank as well as the water body can be seen littered with miniature boats made of non-biodegradable materials like thermocol and styrofoam, besides empty food packets, water pouches, use and throw plates, cups, plastic bottles and polythene carry bags generated during the fair.
Though the CMC had assured to clean the river a day after Kartik Purnima, no step has been taken to remove the miniature boats even after 10 days.
City Health Officer Umesh Panigrahi, who claimed to have taken steps for removal of non-biodegradable miniature boats from the river after Kartik Purnima, said around 150 sanitary workers of the civic body have been engaged in two shifts to clear the garbage from the two fairgrounds from the first day. A major portion of the upper and lower grounds have already been cleaned and the remaining stretch will be completed in a day or two, he added.
But the locals differ with the officer. “If the non-biodegradable miniature boats were removed from the river by the civic body, why those are floating in the water body,” asked a citizen. It is alleged that the sweepers engaged in cleaning the garbage from the fairground are dumping the same on the river bank.
Parikhit Patra, a resident of Jobra, said the garbage and filth dumped on Mahanadi river bank is emanating stench due to pollution but the civic authorities are not adhering to the instruction of National Green Tribunal (NGT) which had issued a direction to keep Mahanadi free from waste.
