Bhubaneswar: A team of 43 officers from the Directorate of Municipal Administration, Govt. of Karnataka representing different Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and line departments have visited different projects of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). The team was on an exposure visit to the best practices, success stories and replicable approaches with regard to solid waste management and other development initiatives.
A meeting was held to interact with the team of urban officers from Karnatak today. Honourable Mayor Smt. Sulochana Das was invited to have direct interaction with the participants and know their responses. Commissioner Sri Vijaya Amruta Kulange invited feedback and response regarding the day’s visit programme arranged for the team.
As per the programme the team on a visit to BMC, Bhubaneswar started their exposure from the collection of garbage to processing and output. Thus the team being divided in small groups went to see door to door waste collection in light commercial vehicle (LCV) and battery operated vehicle (BOV) to different wealth centres. Under community participation and women’s development, the officials of Karnataka visited different slums transformed into Biju Aadarsa Colony. Here, they got the idea of community participation and mainstreaming of slum communities. Smart toilet, smart kiosks, Mo Khata kiosks and its management, Public toilet and Garima project activities.
The taste of heritage exposure was arranged by the city authority to reflect the city’s rich cultural history. The team visited the twin hills Khandagiri and Udayagiri.
It is observed that team members have appreciated Swachha Sathi , newly developed MCC and MRF units, weekly collection of Electronics waste and involvement of SHGs as implementation partners of different projects costing less than 10 lakh. They appreciated Govt. mandate to involve the Mission Shakti group in waste processing thereby promoting city sanitation with their active participation.
On the other hand, the idea of a Public interface to resolve grievances and initiate participatory development was liked by the team. The strategy of involving the public would strengthen community action for city development; commented the team from Karnataka.
Other dignitaries present were Addl. Commissioner Suryawanshi Mayur Vikash and Deputy Commissioner sanitation Suvendu Kumar Sahoo along with team sanitation of BMC.
