Garbage lifting company''s performance on radar

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, Dec 28

The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had outsourced garbage management to Hyderabad-based P Gopinath Reddy Company. The contractor claims of lifting 380 metric tonnes (MT) of mixed garbage daily and the civic body is paying Rs 3 crore per month (at the rate of Rs 1860 per tonne) to the contractor against the door-to-door collection of garbage and transporting it to the processing plants. However, the eyebrows are raised on the performance of the contractor. Despite knowing that the civic administration is not paying heed towards people’s grievances and busy spreading a red carpet before the company. One could spot heaps of garbage in different corners of the city, it is alleged.

The AMC to woo the company has handed over its own 50 auto-loaders. Besides, it had provided them spacious land in nine zones of the city for parking of vehicles used in garbage management. The company is accused of increasing the garbage’s weight by mixing building material, soil or other waste to fetch more money on per MT basis.

Many residents claimed that garbage rickshaws do not visit their localities regularly. The vehicle-drivers do not use speakers to appeal to citizens to give their garbage. The company is also failing to collect garbage from each door. Instead, the employees are busy in lifting the garbage from open bins of the localities, it is said. A separate bin of red colour was fixed on the rear side of the vehicle to collect solid waste, but the company employees do not collect bio-medical waste from senior citizens. The company is not segregating the garbage as well, it is alleged.

The company uses 300 rickshaws and 25 big vehicles to lift and transport the garbage, but the GPS is missing. There is no system to check or inquire whether any vehicle missed collecting garbage from any city lane. Indore Municipal Corporation had wisely used technology to ensure that the garbage lifting work is done fairly and transparently. AMC claims of following the Indore Pattern, but its implementation is missing.

150 MT garbage processing

The total garbage collected from the city is transported till processing plants at Chikalthana and Padegaon. The lifting is done through 325 different vehicles. For the past one and a half years, 150 MT garbage is processed at Chikalthana plant, while processing at Padegaon is done on a trial basis. The proposal of setting up a plant in Harsul is pending, while the biogas plant is waiting for the inauguration.

The head of solid waste management (SWM) cell Nandkishore Bhombe said, “The GPS tracking system will be installed in all the vehicles of the contractor, and its control room will be in the office of the municipal commissioner. The solid waste work is improving at a slow pace compared to the previous situation. Indore Municipal Corporation had not outsourced the task of garbage management. It had pressed its vehicles and its own employees. As per the agreement with Reddy Co., the door-to-door collection of garbage and segregation of the same have to be done regularly."