Mass Cleaning of Ring Road

• Officers, Pourakarmikas of six MCC Zonal Offices begin four-day cleaning drive 
• Residents cry foul as debris will be dumped all over again; seek permanent solution

Mysore/Mysuru: A four-day mass cleaning of the Outer Ring Road began this morning as decided at a meeting of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) on Feb. 25 that was chaired by Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha.

The cleaning campaign will clear construction waste, animal and poultry waste, garbage and furniture waste dumped all along the 43.5-km Ring Road. MCC Development Officers, Environment Engineers, Assistant Commissioners and Pourakarmikas attached to six MCC Zonal Offices under which the Ring Road comes are undertaking the cleaning drive.

The Ring Road cleaning drive will be conducted for four days as part of the regular cleaning by the Six Zonal Offices that have dedicated earth movers and tippers. The collected waste will be moved to solid waste management plants to be processed and disposed of.

During the meeting on Feb. 25, the MP had urged Mayor Shivakumar, Deputy Mayor Dr. G. Roopa and MCC Commissioner G. Lakshmikantha Reddy to take immediate measures to clear the debris at isolated  places like the service roads of the Ring Road that have become preferred places for people and business establishments to dump garbage and construction debris.

However, seeing the Ring Road finally being cleaned by the MCC this morning, residents and shop owners complained that the MCC had taken up such campaigns earlier too but the moment the campaign ends, waste is dumped again. Moreover, the burning of garbage chokes the area and it is a nightmarish experience during summer, residents said.

“Earlier, before Dasara, a similar mass cleaning campaign was taken up but people started dumping waste again on the Ring Road. Instead of resorting to such gimmicks, the MCC must plan something concrete to end the menace,” Prashanth Shetty, who owns a hotel along the road, told Star of Mysore.

Residents have demanded the MCC to install CCTV cameras all along the Ring Road so that garbage-dumping vehicles can be trapped and penalised. “There are many private layouts here and they do not have solid waste management plants. All the waste generated is dumped on the Ring Road at night. CCTV cameras are the best solution and anyway the Ring Road is lit up at night and violators can easily be caught,” said another resident of Rajivnagar.