JOIN USNew policy proposes waste collection on alternate days
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike administration has proposed a slew of changes, which, if implemented would reform the solid waste management (SWM) system in the City.
But the reforms come with a price – the annual expenditure on SWM may spiral from the existing Rs 500 crore to about Rs 700 crore. The increase in the expenditure is mainly due to new conditions in the tender, which will be floated shortly. The garbage contractors will have to collect wet waste and dry waste on alternate days and the cost for wet waste and dry waste collection will be separate. There should be decentralised dry waste collection and wet waste processing units at ward level. The BBMP intends to achieve 100 per cent processing of waste and sending a very minuscule quantity of trash to the landfills.
The bulk generators will have to make their own arrangements to dispose off their waste in a scientific manner else they will have to pay hefty penalty on the basis of ‘pollutor pay principle.’
The proposed tender conditions minimise the number of houses for door-to-door waste collection in 95 wards from 750 to 450. These 95 wards are those where the contract is coming to an end. The number of garbage-collecting autorickshaws in these wards have been increased from 1,560 to 2,777 while compactors, from 269 to 353. The number of Pourakarmikas (sanitation workers) in these 95 wards have been increased from 7,495 to 12,636.
Palike has proposed to do away with the pushcarts as much as possible and replace them with auto-rickshaws. Pushcarts will be permitted only on roads which are too narrow. The new mechanism involves supervising the garbage collection and transportation through infotech initiatives. Due to the changes proposed by the BBMP, the amount spent on garbage collection may increase from 186.60 crore to Rs 276.72 crore.
The Palike has said that the annual expenditure proposed by it on SWM is on a par with other metropolitan cities keeping the population there in mind. While Bruhan Mumbai Mahanagar Palika with 1.25 crore population spends Rs 1,855 crore, Hyderabad with a population of 67 lakh spends Rs 495 crore and Kolkata having 45 lakh citizens spends Rs 450 crore annually on solid waste management.