CUTTACK: No stranger to controversies, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) is now being criticised for its failure to clean Baliyatra ground even 11 days after the festival ended. All kinds of insoluble waste like empty food packets, single-use thermocol plates, cups, cut piece tarpaulin sheets and polythene carry bags generated from stalls are lying scattered on the lower Baliyatra ground polluting the flood plain of Mahanadi river. As no cleanliness drive has yet been undertaken by the civic body, the garbage is entering the river posing a threat to the environment.
The district administration had organised massive awareness programmes for a clean and green Baliyatra. The CMC which had chalked out a massive action plan imposed a ‘Deposit Refund System (DRS) for all plastic and polythene containers with a QR code having a minimum deposit of Rs 5 for ensuring the same. An outsourcing agency was engaged for cleaning the ground for Rs 1,73,000.
This apart, the civic body authorities had issued instructions for cleaning the ground at least twice daily. But the efforts do not seem to have worked as is evident from the huge pile of garbage strewn across the ground. Lack of monitoring and supervision by the agencies engaged in the implementation of DRS and cleaning of the ground is believed to have resulted in such a situation.
“It is not only the negligence on the part of CMC but also gross irresponsibility of the authorities concerned to abide by the order of National Green Tribunal (NGT) for ensuring cleanliness on the ground,” said senior advocate Pradip Kumar Pattnaik, one of the petitioners who had moved the Tribunal over the issue.
The NGT had allowed to conduct Baliyatra on 34-acre land with due precautions for maintaining sanitation and hygiene on the floodplain of Mahanadi. “But it is a matter of regret that the civic body is yet to lift garbage including the solid waste from the ground,” he said.
Following NGT’s restrictions and conditions, the then Collector Nirmal Mishra in 2019 had submitted an affidavit before the NGT declaring that the administration would keep the festival ground and the river clean by producing photos of the venue before and after the event. However, the same is yet to be furnished, said Pattnaik adding he would again move the Tribunal over the issue.
CMC commissioner Nikhil Pavan Kalyan said cleaning work has been completed and a report in this regard will be submitted to the collector. “The cleaning work was to be completed in 9 days and we have completed it within the same period,” said Kalyan.