AMC FAILED TO CLEAN THE TOWN EVEN DURING DUSSEHARA

AMC FAILED TO CLEAN THE TOWN EVEN DURING DUSSEHARA

20-OCT-ENG 5

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA--------------------------As the holy Dussehara is knocking at the door, the Ara Municipal Corporation (AMC) has failed to clean up the town so far. The apathy of the local municipal authorities have created unhygienic condition in the town threatening outbreak of epidemics. Overflowing drains, heaps of garbage, broken culverts, dry taps and damaged lanes and bylanes are common sights. Yet neither the local MP nor the MLA is taking any interest in improving the poor civic condition. On the other hand, the Puja organizers are facing problem of insanitary condition prevailing in all parts of town though locals are doing their bit to remove filth and garbage and cleaning the choked drains. This exercise adversely affected some areas where the garbage is being dumped recklessly.

Roadside vendors enjoy a free run. After laying siege to most of the footpaths and pavements in the heart of the town though the district administration had launched anti-encroachment drive earlier in September this year, they now have spilled on to the roads with their wares. Traffic jams have become endemic. To hammer the last nail in the coffin, handcarts vendors, three wheelers, bikers and rickshaw-pullers have converted the main roads into personal parking zones. During the monsoon season, the scenario becomes worse. The situation stole glory of the festival this year and it is also impossible the organizers to set up pandals and idols of goddess Durga at several points in Bhojpur district.

Commuting through the on-the-road vegetable markets has become a risky venture. One never knows when a stray and meandering ‘holy’ cow or bull may hit a pedestrian. Timely garbage collection to clear the main roads or streets has become wishful thinking. One has to walk with one hand on the nose to avoid inhaling the stench-filled foul air.

AMC municipal commissioner bemoaned the fact that his predecessors due to their neglect, have made his task Herculean. The shortage of staff and scavengers has further added to his woes.

This reporter visited several areas and found heaps of garbage and overflowing drains in these areas. The dirt and filth all around have made the surroundings conducive for mosquitoes to breed. AMC deploy its rundown infrastructure and meagre manpower to fill in for the private player. But that has proved to be the proverbial drop in the ocean.

The crisis has spawned another crisis. With the AMC pushing all its resources to city main roads, the localities on the fringe have become no one’s baby,’ lamented a professor, Vikramaditya Singh who lived at Tilak Nagar. Sanitation workers are a rare sight in the areas, complained locals. Locals had to pull money to hire sanitation workers and rid the locality of the too overflowing bins of garbage, said a resident.

If the municipal commissioner is to be believed, things would improve in a couple of days.

Former Deputy Mayor, AMC, Basant Singh blamed that lakhs of rupees are embezzled in the name of cleanness. He wrote to the Municipal Commissioner and demanded thorough inquiry into it. A copy of the letter has been given to the City Manager, AMC.

He said that drains are never de-silted merely sieve plastic from the drains and thus misuse the government fund. But the AMC held the ward councilors responsible if filth and garbage are seen littering on roads or drains brim with silt.

The Municipal Commissioner said that he had not gone through the letter of the Deputy Mayor so far and so he could not say anything. He said that if the complaint is found correct, the drains or the roads will be cleaned.

This year, election for Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Ward Councilors held. During electioneering each and every aspirants claims as ever to make the town clean and beautiful and shift responsibility to their former office bearers but after winning the election, they turned a Nelson’s eye towards the problems.