ROURKELA: There is no dearth of funds, manpower, resources and logistics, even then, sanitation services in Rourkela Smart City leave much to be desired in recent days.
Sources said, Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) has been spending nearly Rs 6 crore per annum on manpower hiring for 40 wards to cater to cleanliness services but in the absence of monitoring, everything goes down to nought.
The city’s posh locality - Civil Township - is no exception to this civic apathy of authorities. Heaps of household domestic wastes lie for days at roadside points emanating stench and adding to it are the construction debris.
A resident of the township Sunil Kayal said garbage lifting has never been consistent across the Civil Township. For transformation of Rourkela into a smart city, regular monitoring is the need of the hour.
Similar is the situation in other areas of the city as well. Incidentally, for last 15 years the sanitation services of nine wards from Ward 14 to 22 have been outsourced, but results are far from satisfactory. In the rest of the 31 wards, the department hires extra manpower.
For 31 wards, the RMC has about 200-odd sanitation workers of its own and additionally around 425 more have been hired on daily wage basis. It is surprising that for nearly nine years, the civic body does not have any elected council.
While the Sundargarh Collector is the RMC administrator, the post of Commissioner is held by an IAS officer. Down the hierarchy are Deputy Commissioner (Sanitation), seven Sanitary Inspectors and Sanitary Supervisors for all wards.
Senior Congress leader Rashmi Ranjan Padhi said RMC officers are disconnected from the public. "Instead of field visits and inspections, the civic body is run through review meetings," Padhi added.
While RMC Commissioner Subhankar Mohapatra is abroad, Deputy Commissioner Sudhanshu Bhoi said necessary corrective action and strengthening the monitoring system could be the best solutions.
In December 2020 the Advanced Sanitary Management System was introduced for Rourkela which had a fleet of 94 vehicles, vehicle-mounted road sweeping machine, mechanised drain de-silting facility, suction machines and leaf blowers among other things for sanitation services.
Last year, Rourkela had secured 56th rank nationally in the Swachhata Survekashan and One Star rating for Garbage Free City. This survey could present a completely different picture this time on as the survey is underway.