Interview Times 
BHUBANESWAR: As Durga Puja celebrations light up Bhubaneswar, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has rolled out extensive measures to maintain cleanliness and sanitation across the city. With a well-coordinated plan, the BMC aims to ensure a smooth and clean festive experience for citizens and visitors alike.
To keep the city spick and span during the celebrations, the BMC has deployed 36 nodal officers and more than 340 additional sanitation workers across different areas, particularly around the puja pandals. Special sanitation vehicles, along with drivers and manpower, have been allocated specifically for waste transportation, ensuring that garbage is cleared efficiently and in a timely manner.
Guidelines have also been issued by the BMC for puja organizers and citizens, encouraging them to cooperate in maintaining cleanliness. Bhubaneswar’s Mayor, Sulochana Das, Commissioner Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, and Additional Commissioner Suvendu Kumar Sahoo have all made video appeals, urging the public to do their part in keeping the city clean during the festivities.
In the city’s 67 wards, spread across three zones, over 350 sanitation workers have been deployed. Each ward has also been assigned nodal officers to supervise the cleanliness arrangements, which will be in effect from October 10 to 14. In addition, sanitation agencies have been instructed to ensure immediate waste removal following the puja celebrations. Extra vehicles, drivers, and manpower have been allocated to help manage the increased waste load during the festival.
Public toilets haven’t been overlooked either, with six major locations being given special attention to ensure proper sanitation throughout the festivities.
In a heartwarming gesture, Mayor Sulochana Das personally congratulated sanitation workers on the occasion of Dussehra, distributing sweets and wishing them happiness, peace, and prosperity. She also appealed to all sanitation workers, swachh saathis, supervisors, officers, and BMC teams to keep the entire city, including the puja pandals, clean and beautiful during the Dussehra celebrations.
As part of the post-festival arrangements, the BMC has set up temporary waterbodies at various locations for the immersion of idols. Puja organizers have been requested to immerse the idols in these waterbodies, and their cooperation with the BMC’s cleanliness drive has been widely appreciated. Devotees visiting the pandals have also been asked to dispose of waste in designated areas to ensure a litter-free environment.
In addition to cleanliness efforts, Enforcement Teams have been directed to carry out food quality checks across the city. Vendors and food business operators near puja pandals have been instructed to maintain two dustbins with separate labels to ensure proper waste segregation.
