The Times of India             27.09.2013

Now, civic body to lift garbage six times daily

PATNA: As the Durga Puja organizers have started working overtime to get pandals ready on time, so is the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) to keep the city clean before the festival begins.

The PMC officials, at a meeting on Thursday, decided to intensify garbage lifting and cleaning works across the city. "Garbage is collected thrice on tractors from different areas daily. But owing to Durga Puja, we have decided to make it six times a day," said additional commissioner (in charge revenue and sanitation), PMC, Shashank Shekhar Sinha.

"The sanitary inspectors have been ordered to identify all garbage dumping spots, even the bylanes, in their areas. We would also deploy dedicated workers near each pandal," Sinha said.

The corporation has also planned to circulate CDs with appeal to the Puja samitis to keep their surroundings clean and keep dustbin both outside and inside their pandals. The PMC has started training its staff in handling handheld fogging machines to be used in the city soon. It has purchased 59 portable fogging machines to rid the city of mosquito menace.

On Thursday, the New Capital Circle (NCC) that has received 24 fogging machines out of the 59, imparted training to its staff in operating them. The PMC aims to cover 28 wards under the NCC in three days. To ensure that fogging is done without any negligence, the staff responsible for it has to get a written certificate from the ward councillor concerned and a reputed person of the ward. Once the fogging is done for the day, the staff concerned will submit the machines to their respective circle offices, Sinha said.

The PMC has spent Rs 20 lakh on purchasing the 59 machines.