The city's streets will be cleaned thrice every day from Sashthi (October 20) till Dashami (October 24), a senior official of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) said.
Cleaning of roads at short intervals is necessary during the Puja as lakhs of people descend on the city on the festive days and a significant volume of solid waste is generated and dumped along roads, especially near big pandals, the official said.
The CMC is also distributing over 3,000 waste collection bins that will be put up near pandals and along roads. These are in addition to the 10,000-odd bins that are already there along major roads.
"The daily collection of solid waste in the morning will continue as usual. Apart from that, the roads will be cleaned thrice daily on the Puja days," the official said.
"About 12,500 waste cleaners and collectors will be working through the day. Major roads will be cleaned thrice — in the morning, afternoon and evening. The cleaning will continue till 9pm."
Managers in the solid waste management department in all wards and boroughs have been told to hire a substitute if anyone skips work.
"The vector-control teams of the CMC will work on all days from October 18 to 29. Select ward health clinics will remain open on the Sundays during the period (October 22 and 29)," said the official.
The clinics will conduct dengue tests on those two Sundays.
The Bengal government has cancelled the leave of all employees involved in the fight against dengue across the state till the situation improves, a statement issued by the government on October 11 read.
Over 1,200 fresh dengue cases had been reported from the Calcutta municipal area between September 29 and October 6, mayor Firhad Hakim said on Friday.