Vadodara civic body to begin cleanliness drive

Notably,at least three drives were initiated by the VMC in the last few years to make the city neat and clean,of which just one could meet the expectations.

In 2008,the VMC had approached the local corporate houses to lend a helping hand in the cause. But the response was lukewarm and the idea was shelved after some time.

“The intention was to get maximum participation from citizens in keeping the city clean. As part of the initiative,we had urged the citizens and even companies and organisations to help us through different means,” said an official at the solid waste department.

“As far as corporate sector is concerned,we were expecting financial aid to install garbage bins in different parts of the city,but none of the companies came forward,” added the official. The economic slowdown,according to some top officials,had played a major part in the project’s failure.

Later in February 2009,Shukla mooted a year-long plan to make the city clean. The VMC had spent a huge amount on re-designing of the existing garbage collection handcart containers. Following that,the schedule of the door-to-door garbage collection service was changed and special helplines were set up to get people’s response.

In June last year,the VMC came up with another plan to give the city a facelift. This time,it decided to impose fines on shopkeepers found littering. But,the actual process started only last month.

“From each ward,we are collecting at least Rs 1,000 every day for the last one month. The maximum amount collected in a single day was to the tune of Rs 28,000,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner C M Makwana.

He added: “Sanitation is a difficult subject and,along with the administration,there is a great need to improve the civic sense among the people. We have improved considerably in the last couple of years. But it is not possible to change the situation overnight.”