SAMBALPUR: Councillors cutting across party lines on Friday took up cleanliness of the city in an attempt to end the stalemate over outsourcing of sanitation work. There has been a brewing discontent in the municipality following alleged disagreement between the chairperson and the councillors over the outsourcing of cleaning of 15 wards to a Cuttack-based contractor at thrice the cost compared to the last tender.The agreement expired on June 30 and since then denizens of Sambalpur town are having a harrowing time with heaps of garbage which has only heightened the fear of dengue.At least 20 councillors including Vice Chairman Siddharth Saha and leader of Opposition Ashok Soni participated in the cleanliness drive along Ring Road on the bank of Mahanadi river with support of municipality staff. They engaged an excavator and four tractors from their own pockets. The councillors said the drive will be extended to other wards and requested voluntary organisations to join hands. The councillors also locked the Municipality office for the third consecutive day protesting Chairperson Reena Trivedi’s decision to outsource sanitation work at a higher price. The councillors took the decision after Trivedi refused to heed to the suggestion of the Sambalpur District Collector Mrinalini Darswal to renegotiate the price in the presence of councilors before finalising the agreement.Trivedi, on the other hand, said the work order was issued based on the lowest bid and legally there was no scope for renegotiation as post tender negotiation is prohibited as per guidelines of the Central Vigilance Commission.The contractor has been issued an ultimatum of 72 hours to begin work following which, the work order will stand cancelled and fresh tender will be floated, she added.
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