Ara Municipal Corporation yet to remove garbage from town

Kumar Rajiv Nayan

Ara : Dussehra notwithstanding, Ara Municipal Corporation (AMC) has failed to clean the town so far. The indifferent attitude of AMC  authorities despite heavy rain pounding the town recently has resulted in unhygienic condition in the town threatening outbreak of epidemics.

Overflowing drains, heaps of garbage, broken culverts, dry taps, and damaged lanes and by-lanes are common sight in Ara Town, the headquarters of Bhojpur District. Neither the local MP nor the MLA is taking any interest in improving the poor civic condition. The Puja organisers are facing problem of insanitary condition although locals are doing their bit to remove filth and garbage and cleaning the choked drains.

Roadside vendors enjoy a free run laying siege to most of the footpaths and pavements in the heart of the town though the district administration had launched anti-encroachment drive in September 2019. Traffic jams have become endemic. The handcarts vendors, three-wheelers, bikers, and rickshaw-pullers have converted the main roads into parking zones.Traffic jams have become endemic. A number of areas in Bhojpur district are still inundated with rain and flood water forcing people to stay indoors. Commuting through on-the-road vegetable markets have made things that much difficult for the people. One never knows when a stray cow or bull may hit a pedestrian.

Municipal Commissioner, AMC, Dhirendra Paswan, feels his predecessors 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 has deployed its rundown infrastructure and meagre manpower to remove the garbage but that has proved inadequate.  With the AMC concentrating on city main roads, the localities on the fringe remain neglected, lamented Professor Vikramaditya Singh, a resident of Tilak Nagar. Sanitation workers are a rare sight in the areas, complained locals. Locals had to pull money to hire sanitation workers to rid the localitiesy of the verflowing bins of garbage, said a resident.

If Municipal Commissioner Dhirendra Paswan and Mayor, AMC, Ruby Tiwari, are to be believed, things would improve in a couple of days.

Former Deputy Mayor, AMC, Basant Singh,  in a letter addressed to the Municipal Corporation, has demanded an inquiry into huge expenditure in the name of cleanliness drive. He said that drains are never de-silted. Paswan said that he had not gone through the letter of Singh.