BSWML working at a site in Bengaluru.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Flushed with funds, the Bangalore Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML) has issued notices to all contractors involved in door-to-door waste collection, directing them to submit their bills for payment.
Officials said the move was aimed at addressing two concerns: first, ensuring that delays in payments are not cited as a reason for non-compliance, and second, verifying and curbing bogus entries in bills.
So far, garbage contractors across the city have faced delays of four to six months in receiving payments. For instance, the BSWML has only cleared bills for work completed up to March this year.
Earlier, the delays were attributed to a shortage of funds in the civic body and its complete dependence on property tax revenue. Now, however, the BSWML has a steady revenue stream through the collection of service charges for solid waste management (SWM).
For the first time, the BSWML has issued notices to all contractors, demanding submission of bills for April, May, June, July and August. This is also because the agency is expected to surpass its annual projection of Rs 750 crore by the end of this year.
Officials believe that the current delays are largely due to contractors themselves, who may be unwilling to receive payments on time. They suspect that bills include bogus entries, which contractors prefer not to have closely scrutinised during verification.
Contractors, however, blame the BSWML for frequent policy changes. "Until January this year, a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was in place for compliance. Based on that, payments were made in March. Now, the SOP has been revised. We will comply with it,” said Balasubramaniam, a contractor.
He added that contractors do not wish to strain relations with officials. "When BSWML insisted that auto-tippers be present at 5.30 am, we asked our workforce to comply, even though garbage collection can begin only after 7 am, when citizens are awake," he said.