The Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has chalked out a detailed plan to ensure cleanliness in the City amid Durga Puja celebrations.
With most of the pandals now open to the public, devotees in huge numbers have been thronging to get a glimpse of the Goddess. For this, a special cleaning drive is being run by the civic body in all the puja pandals, the surrounding areas and also on the roads leading to the venue.
For this safai karmis of the nigam have been stationed at the office during the festival and are being deployed from there in three shifts- 6 am to 2 pm, 2 pm to 10 pm and from 10 pm to 6 am. As many as 400 more workers have been appointed by the body to carry out the work of garbage collection and sweeping the roads.
On Tuesday evening, Municipal Commissioner Sandeep Singh visited the major Durga Puja pandals including Bihar Club, Durgabari and Chandrashekhar Azad Durga Puja Committee and inspected the cleanliness of the areas. “Zone-wise teams have been formed to provide better facilities in all the 160 Puja Pandals under the corporation area, through which cleanliness, drinking water, mobile toilets and availability of stone dust is being ensured,” said the official.
Singh has also directed the officials of the Swachhata Shakha to ensure all the drains are cleaned and that the open drains are covered with slabs to avoid any inconvenience or mishap.
It has also been decided that Ranchi Municipal Corporation Connect Center will be active 24 hours during the festival and common people as well as Puja committees can register their complaints by contacting on the number 1800 570 1235. With the present weather condition, a ‘Quick Response Team has also been formed where citizens can file complaints related to water logging issues.
The Municipal Commissioner has also appealed to Ranchiites to not throw any garbage here and there but to only put it in the designated dustbin so the corporation team can collect garbage easily and the cleanliness of the City can remain intact.
To ensure that puja pandal organising committees maintain cleanliness in their premises, RMC has also organised a ‘Swachh Puja Pandal Competetion 2024’. The cleanliness of the pandals under the civic body will be judged by a team constituted by RMC from October 9 to October 13 on a total score of 200 points.
Pandals can score up to 40 points with Zero Waste management which includes arrangement for proper disposal of the waste generated during the event. As many as 20 points can be earned with a complete ban of Single Use Plastic including plastic bags and water bottles.
Another 20 points can be gained with the arrangement of sufficient green and blue dustbins as per the size of the pandal, its use by visitors, segregation of waste and timely cleaning while 20 more with the broadcast of the Swcahhata jingle by RMC periodically through the loudspeakers to enlighten the public.
Innovative work done for cleanliness, handing over of non- biodegradable materials such as plastic and thermacol to the body for disposal, the use of biodegradable materials for advertising or LED screens, display of advertisement boards related to de-addiction, use of materials made from paper, leaves, jute at the premises, ensuring the use of reusable or paper glasses, volunteers with proper ID cards and following the protocol for idol immersion- adhering to these points pandals can score 10 reward points for each criteria.
The pandal with the maximum points will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 25,000 while Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 will be awarded as the second and third prize respectively.
