Lokmat News Network
Chattrapati Sambhajinagar:
The dust levels in front of the Chikalthana Airport and on the city's main roads have significantly increased. The cleanliness efforts are not being carried out effectively. Picking up on this issue, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar strongly reprimanded the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) administration on Sunday. Taking cognizance of it, the administrator G Sreekanth held a meeting today and directed all the key officials and heads of various sections to focus on city cleanliness ahead of VIP visits.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Pawar, along with ministers and various department officials, arrived in the city for a women's empowerment programme at Marathwada Sanskrutik Mandal. Currently, dust clouds are rising in front of the airport, and the dust levels on the main roads have also increased. At some places, the lack of cleanliness was noticeable to the VIP guests. Pawar issued instructions to the municipal administration regarding this matter, expressing his strong dissatisfaction with the statement, "Despite allocating crores for city cleanliness, can’t we keep the city clean? Just look at the dust levels."
Pointing of encroachments
On September 17 of last year, when Pawar visited the city, he expressed surprise at the encroachments on the main roads. However, the municipal corporation did not seem to take this issue seriously afterward.
Every department must fulfil its duty
The Administrator clarified that work has been assigned to every section in the municipal corporation. The ward offices must maintain cleanliness, the electrical section should check streetlights, the mechanical section should remove dirt from roads using sweeping machines, the anti-encroachment section must regularly clear encroachments, and the ward engineers should ensure there are no stagnant water issues. These instructions were given during today’s meeting. These tasks should be completed properly before the VIPs arrive in future.
900 awareness events yet the city remains dirty
The Solid Waste Management section claimed to have conducted as many as 900 events related to cleanliness in the past month. It was boldly stated that no one in the state has held as many events. However, Ajit Pawar himself provided evidence of how clean the city was during his visit on Sunday.
Support for Reddy Company
The responsibility for daily waste collection in the city lies with the Hyderabad-based Reddy Company, which receives a minimum of Rs 3 crore each month. Despite spending huge money, piles of garbage can still be seen on the main roads of the city. Besides, the administration has fallen short of developing a 100 per cent garbage-bin-free city over the years.