A stretch of a footpath along Southern Avenue in south Kolkata where waste had accumulated for days was finally cleared on Monday.
The Telegraph reported on Monday about the state of the footpath — the stretch towards the Rabindra Sarobar stadium from Safari Park — which was littered with waste and was blocked at one point by a fallen tree branch.
Residents said cleaners from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) removed the waste from the stretch. Waste that had also accumulated on the green verges along the footpath was also cleaned during the day.
Chaitali Chattopadhyay, councillor of Ward 90 and chairperson of Borough VIII of the KMC, said the waste was being dumped there regularly by some people who they had not been able to identify. She denied the waste had been lying on the footpath for days.
“Our street cleaners had cleaned that stretch about a week ago but waste was dumped again. We have noticed that some people are dumping waste regularly on the footpath,” said Chattopadhyay.
“There was one green verge that was devoid of any shrub. We will plant shrubs on the verge hoping people will not throw waste on the green.”
On Sunday, discarded commodes and beddings, plastic bags full of waste and earthen pots and cups were found strewn on the footpath.
Waste was also spotted lying on the road, which was once one of the most picturesque thoroughfares but is now a picture of neglect.
An official of the KMC said multiple functionaries in the civic administration were responsible for the messy state of the footpath.
“Each borough has an assistant director in charge of solid waste management. There are conservancy overseers for each ward in a borough. Under a conservancy overseer, there are sub-overseers and under them are waste collectors,” said the official.
“Anyone in this entire hierarchy should have been able to spot so much waste that was lying on the footpath. Even the councillor should have had the information,” said another official.
Sumita Banerjee, a regular visitor to the Rabindra Sarobar, said that apart from the garbage, the ever-increasing number of tea and food stalls make it difficult for pedestrians to use the footpath along the lake campus.
A resident of the locality said a large number of people walk along the pavements of Southern Avenue every day, especially because the green and the quiet road is still quite different from most other roads in the city. The authorities should try to keep the footpaths clean and free of encroachments.
Many of the boulevards on the road have been overrun with weeds and unnecessary construction, residents have alleged.
This newspaper reported on Monday that in some of the boulevards, tall weeds have covered the garden plants.
In some others, the residents alleged, concrete benches and statues that have come up in the past few years add to their ugliness.
