The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has deployed 10,000 workers for cleaning of streets, hospitals, housing complexes and markets as part of a special cleanliness drive to keep neighbourhoods clean in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. According to a KMC solid waste management department senior official, the demand for garbage cleaning was growing across the city. The official said the civic body was receiving 50-60 calls every day from various areas, requesting to undertake cleaning operations twice a day.
Waking up to the challenge of keeping the city clean at this crucial juncture, the KMC formed a quick response team to reach any neighbourhood to take up cleaning operations. The department also introduced a special three-shift system last week that will continue till March 31. “We have introduced additional manpower to clean the city even at night. We shall continue the drive till March 31,” another official said.
According to him, frantic calls from some housing complexes in Behala, Garden Reach, Kidderpore, Jadavpur, Ballygunge, Tollygunge, Kankurgachhi, Ultadanga and large areas off EM Bypass had prompted the civic body to divide the quick response team into small groups and send the trained workers to the neighbourhoods where their services were urgently needed.
Mayor Firhad Hakim has instructed the solid waste management officials to arrange for adequate masks, gloves, soap and hand sanitizers for on-ground civic workers. In fact, Hakim has been personally checking whether the conservancy workers are facing any difficulty in conducting the cleanliness drive. “For now, we have sufficient stock of such essential materials needed for the huge task force. But we need to send fresh requisitions to the civic top brass by next seven days,” another senior official said.
