KMC, NKDA log 131 WhatsApp plaints on first day of special ‘report-garbage' drive
Kolkata: On the first day of a weeklong special cleanliness drive, the KMC control room on Wednesday received 91 WhatsApp messages from across the city, urging the civic body to clean up accumulated waste in various neighbourhoods.
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According to sources in the KMC solid waste management department, the majority of complaints (15) came from areas in and around Park Circus under Borough VII. The KMC officials received 10 complaints from areas such as Dhakuria, Jodhpur Park, Anwar Shah, and Baghajatin under Borough X. Several complaints also came from Belgachhia, Dum Dum, Cossipore, Dhapa, Tangra, and Behala areas.
"We are happy that citizens have responded to our special drive and sent complaints to our control room," said Debabrata Majumdar, the MMiC overseeing the KMC solid waste management department.
According to Majumdar, the department has kept a special team of workers at the boroughs to reach the spots and take immediate action.
According to a source, the department deployed 10,000 workers for cleaning streets, hospital complexes, housing complexes, and marketplaces as part of the drive.
According to a KMC solid waste management department senior official, the civic body was receiving several calls everyday from across the city, requesting it to take up cleaning operations twice a day in some neighbourhoods.
"We have introduced a special cleaning operation to keep Kolkata's neighbourhoods germ-free. We have roped in additional manpower to keep the city clean. We may need to continue with the service even after June 3," said a SWM senior official.
"We have been engaging the major part of our team for regular cleaning of thoroughfares, hospital complexes, and marketplaces. This apart, we have kept several smaller groups on standby.
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Whenever we are getting calls from any specific neighbourhoods, we are sending our teams to those places," a KMC SWM official said.
Following the footstep of KMC, the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) also started conducting a week-long special cleaning drive across New Town from Wednesday. NKDA officials said they had received close to 40 complaints on WhatsApp on the first day of the drive itself.
"Our teams are reaching out to the spots as per complaints and ensuring that the premises are cleaned at the earliest," said a NKDA official.
(Inputs by Suman Chakraborti)
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