The state public works department will write to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation for a resolution of the issue of who should clean Cathedral Road, in the Maidan area, where piles of garbage have accumulated, an official said on Monday.
Officials and engineers of the public works department (PWD) and Kolkata Municipal Corporation will conduct a joint inspection of the road on Tuesday.
The Telegraph reported on Monday that waste has accumulated along the eastern and western footpaths of Cathedral Road. The waste included plastic and paper cups, glasses and plates, food waste, rags and fallen leaves. The volume of accumulated waste suggested there had been no cleaning for weeks if not months.
A senior PWD official said on Monday that they were taking measures to clean the waste this time but added that they had raised the issue with the KMC.
“We have connected with engineers of the KMC and told them about the waste lying there. This waste is supposed to be cleared by the KMC since it is in the green verge,” said a PWD official.
“We will also write to the KMC soon.”
On Sunday, officials of the KMC and the PWD seemed unsure about who is responsible for cleaning the road.
An official of the civic body said on Sunday that since the PWD is responsible for the maintenance of the road, they were also responsible for solid waste cleaning on and along the road. This was the standard practice across the Maidan area where all roads are maintained by the PWD.
A PWD official had said that the waste was lying in green verges built by the KMC and it was understood that the KMC will clean it.
Sources in the KMC, which is responsible for cleaning solid waste in most places in Kolkata, said about five years ago it had been proposed that the KMC should clean Cathedral Road.
The road has entry gates to some of Kolkata’s iconic places like Birla Planetarium, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Academy of Fine Arts and one of the gates of the Victoria Memorial.
One of the few remaining leafy stretches of Kolkata, Cathedral Road is filled with visitors to the city on weekends and holidays.