Nagpur: In a damning expose, the members of Smart Swachhata Teams formed by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) themselves were found spreading dirt on roads and footpaths, according to a report in a local daily Times of India.
It may be recalled that to improve its ranking in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the NMC has appointed 500 workers as part of Smart Swachhata Teams in all wards, apart from regular 7,000 sanitary workers. However, members of these teams were seen spitting in public places and not sweeping the roads and footpaths properly.
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29 April 2025
With much fanfare, the civic body had launched the concept on October 19, claiming these teams will cover major roads, internal lanes, garden outskirts, venues of VVIP official events etc where special work is needed.
Members of these teams are provided track suits, brooms, wheel-mounted tubs, dustbins, city buses etc as a special treatment. Each team comprises six or more members, engaged at one place at a time. They also handle the task of spreading awareness among people about the importance of segregating garbage. Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B inspected the land proposed for Orange City Street Project last week. He found garbage on the project land as well as a road running parallel to the stretch.
According to ToI report, on his order, NMC engaged two Smart Swachhata Teams comprising 12 members on the road starting from Jaiprakash Nagar Metro Rail Station. The two teams were working on each side of the road near Sahakar Nagar. Garbage was set on fire where the team was working on a road near Orange City Street Project land, connecting Sahakar Nagar with the main road. The team swept a small patch of the road and ended the day’s work at around 1 pm despite their work timing being up to 2 pm.
A lot of garbage was dumped on both sides of the road when the team left the place. Chambers of storm water drains on the footpath as well as on both sides of the road were full of garbage. Garbage was also lying on the Orange City Street project’s land. Sand was left as it is on the road sides as well as on footpath and road-divider, the report said and added that some members of the teams were seen spitting on the road and footpath where they were sweeping. They were seen chewing kharra, which is banned in the city.
Asked about setting garbage on fire, the team members said they did not set the fire. But, they also did not intimate sanitary inspectors or Nuisance Detection Squad to find who set the garbage afire. The stretch they claimed to have cleaned still had a lot of garbage, sand, bushes and weeds. The teams also did not have wheel-mounted bins or dustbins to store or transport garbage gathered at various places after sweeping the road and footpath.
