Coinciding with the Birth Anniversary of Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen, Phuentsholing Thromde yesterday installed 70 swing dustbins to keep the city clean.

The town is getting such bins for the first time and the thromde plans to place 30 more. The bins were designed and fabricated by the thromde.

Along with the bins, 18 hanging flowerpots were also placed on the streetlight poles that connect the main gate. The flowerpots were also designed and fabricated by the thromde team.

Residents also came out to clean the streets in their third quarterly mass cleaning campaign.

Thrompon Uttar Kumar Rai said that the thromde has come up with several strategies to keep the town clean.

“Swing dustbins and hanging flowerpots are something other than the routine mass cleaning,” he said.

Despite the regular dustbins and bin vehicles in town, Phuentsholing still faces problem in maintaining cleanliness. The Thrompon said that this was mainly due to the floating population in the cross-border town.

“Despite many measures put in, we are still facing problems,” he said pointing how the recently cleaned drains in the town have been filled with wastes. “It is happening when we are still cleaning the drains in other areas.”

Thromde also has installed 13 CCTVs in key areas to monitor and control solid-waste management in the town. However, footage from these CCTV showed residents still trashing wastes in the town. Some are even hiding their faces and trashing deliberately, thromde officials said.

Uttar Kumar Rai said the residents are responsible for keeping the town clean.

“Although there are people from different places from across the country, the town is ours to maintain,” he said.

To create awareness and advocacy in cleanliness, students also walked to many thromde areas with banners.

Rajesh Rai | Phuentsholing