In order to make the grassroots-level sanitation workers (Safai Karmacharis) aware about the Solid Waste Management Rule-2016, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday started its two-day massive training programme for the sanitation workers engaged in 67 wards across the city.
While the programme included more than 1,200 sanitation workers, including 600 or more from the BMC-managed 10 wards in the first session and more than 600 from Ramky-managed 15 wards in the second session, the other two private sanitation agencies PMR and Jagruti will be included in the second day.
Last week the Housing and Urban Development Department has imparted training on all the urban local bodies of the State so that they would implement the NGT order to all staff including the sweepers and `jamadars’ for better implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rule-2016.
It can be mentioned here that BMC on Friday organised a training programme of officials, community organisers and zonal officials including members from Biju Yuva Bahini on the Solid Waste Management Rule-2016 following a directive from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on imparting the training among all the staff.
The second step was to train the grassroots-level sanitation workers and the BMC plans to cover 3,100 sanitation workers.
The Swachha Bhubaneswar Abhiyan (SBA) Cell of the civic body organised the training programme at Unit VIII Community Centre where Deputy Commissioner (Sanitation) Sanghamitra Behera presided. OSD (Sanitation) Dr Rajanikanta Das and SBA Team Leader Manoranjan Sahoo were also present, among others.
Senior officials of the City Health Office, SBA Cell, community organisers, ward officers, zonal community organisers and members of Biju Yuva Bahini were also present at the venue.
The training was given in Odia language to make the workers understand the importance of door-to-door collection of garbage, separation of bio-degradable and non-biodegradable wastes, plastic menace besides how to develop material recovery facility (MRF) in the city for better implementation of SWM Rules 2016, use of different coloured dustbins for different waste types, street sweeping norms and strict `no’ to burning of the municipal solid waste along the streets.
The training programme also included methods to manage green wastes across the city including construction of 220 compost pits in BMC-managed parks across the city.