The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) will deploy additional pourakarmikas during Dasara to ensure that the city remains clean despite high footfalls of tourists and higher garbage that will be generated during the festival period.
Dr. N.P. Venkatesh, MCC health officer, said that in all 385 additional pourakarmikas have been roped in for Dasara duties and it is an ad hoc arrangement. They will be deployed to clean the main thoroughfares of the city and the various venues where Dasara events take place. This is in addition to the nearly 2200 pourakarmikas on the rolls of the MCC, said Mr. Venkatesh.
The MCC has recruited them under four different packages and will be on duty from October 14th to October 26th and the corporation will make the payments to them besides providing them with all equipment, dress, caps, gloves, boots in addition to providing them food.
While 95 pourakarmikas will be deployed to clean the major roads connecting the different venues, additional 70 pourakarmikas will be deputed to ensure that the major arterial roads of the city including the procession route is kept neat and tidy. A maximum chunk of the outsourced pourakarmikas – about 170 of them – will be assigned the various grounds of Dasara events including the venue for aahara mela. The remaining pourakarmikas will also be rotated on a need basis to depending on the footfalls and garbage generation.
The food mela or the aahara mela tends to attract the maximum crowd and by its nature of food preparation and delivery, the highest garbage is generated here. But it is also imperative to keep the venue neat and tidy and hence the pourakarmikas will be present on a 24x7 basis, working three shifts a day, said Mr. Venkatesh.
“The cleaning work at the venue of aahara mela will commence the moment the stalls are closed for the night. The pourakarmikas will ensure that the entire premises is clean and all garbage cleared by day break when the stalls reopen from breakfast time,” Mr. Venkatesh added.
Additional vehicles have also been sourced to transport the garbage, segregate them as dry or wet and dispose them off accordingly.
The MCC’s 2200 plus pourakarmikas will continue with their regular door-to-door collection of garbage from all the 65 wards and Dasara will not add to their work load as it will be handled entirely by 385 staff recruited on an ad hoc basis.
