Bhubaneswar, July 14: The city conservancy lanes and gaps between rows of residential houses seem to have missed the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) attention even after it may have woken up to a massive awareness drive to check the spread of dengue.
The conservancy lanes, which are meant for creating passage for cesspool vehicles and fire fighters, have turned into garbage dumping yards. Even after the civic body keeps telling the people not to throw waste on the lanes, for months together heaps of garbage have been piling up leading to mosquito breeding and stench.
According to BMC sources, the conservancy lanes are cleaned once in three months (during bush cutting) and this has been in practice for long. The sanitary workers and sweepers don’t clean the lanes as they do the roads on a daily basis.
City health officer (BMC) C P Das said that the clearing of waste from conservancy lanes is never their mandate.
Localities like Satya Nagar, Saheed Nagar and Bapuji Nagar, the conservancy lanes are always a picture of squalor. At some places, unauthorized constructions have also come up. The conservancy lanes are also meant for laying underground pipes for sewerage and also facilitating repair works. However, in Unit-1, people have constructed houses on the lanes. Some people have also set up shops in the lanes since the area is close to the Unit-1 market, the biggest one in the capital city.
Sources said in 2011, the city management group (CMG) comprising representatives of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), the general administration (GA) department and the city police, took a decision to evict encroachers. But after more than five years, no action has been taken to demolish the illegal shelters.
