BHUBANESWAR: With a view to promote cleanliness and hygiene in the Capital City ahead of Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup in November, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday flagged off mechanical street sweeping machines and laid the foundation stone for 60 smart modular stainless steel toilets. Naveen said launching of these projects on Gandhi Jayanti holds significance as Mahatma was a leader who had emphasised on cleanliness much before the struggle for Independence started.
The mechanical sweeping project, being implemented by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), will cover 80 km area of the City. The Corporation has roped in Jharkhand-based United Air Express, which will sweep a 43.5 km stretch, and Punjab-based joint venture of Pro Power Sweeping Company Pvt Ltd and Lions Services Ltd, which will clean the rest 37 km.
BMC Commissioner Dr Krishan Kumar said two mechanical sweeping vehicles have been flagged off and two more will be engaged by October 25. The BMC will spend around `11 crore annually for the project.
The project will keep the City clean and also ensure better air quality as the machines can collect particulate matter having a diameter between 2.5 and 10 micrometres, he said.
Similarly, the 60 prefabricated modular toilets, to be installed across the Capital City ahead of the mega sporting event, will provide a clean and hygienic environment to citizensThe self-cleaning e-toilets are of two types, automatic and semi-automatic. The toilets will be installed at 30 designated locations in the City for both men and women.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said 40 of these toilets will be semi-automatic. The automatic toilets are capable of creating an environment where the possibility of contamination from urinary tract infection is zero. The automatic toilets would require card-based entry while the semi-automatic ones will be manually operated, the officials added.