New way to dispose waste, but only for 38 lucky wards

Contract in remaining 105 words put on hold as BBMP council is divided over issue

Only 38 wards of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are set to witness a new waste disposal system where two auto-tippers will land up at the doorstep of every household to collect wet and dry waste separately. Similar plan in the remaining wards has been put on hold as the present BBMP council is divided over the issue.

The new system was conceived with an idea to encourage segregation of waste at home while ensuring that the contractors do not dump mixed waste in the landfills. “The zonal engineers have been asked to certify that collection vehicles are covered on top and all vehicles are fitted with RFID card, GPS and public address system,” D Randeep, Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) of BBMP told Bangalore Mirror. He said the work will commence in a week.

As per the tender conditions, the service provider will collect only wet and sanitary waste from every household. The BBMP is in the process of tying up with authorised waste picker organisations and women self-help groups to collect the dry waste in a separate covered vehicle.

Under the new system, the civic body is spending around Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 crore per ward for collecting only the wet and sanitary waste. It translates to around Rs 450 crore for all the 198 wards. The cost of collecting dry waste, however, is not known yet.

Tenders of 105 wards on hold
Such is the resistance for implementing the new system of garbage disposal that awarding the contract in 105 wards has been put on hold. The file is awaiting clearance from the Standing Committee of Health for the last seven months. Of the total 198 wards, the tenders of around 35 of them have been stayed by the High Court.

Manjunath Raju, corporator from Kadu Malleshwara ward, said, “Even in developed countries, the segregation of waste is not more than 50 per cent. If a household does not segregate the waste properly, who will collect it? What will families do if the dry waste collector turns up near their doorstep after 9 am? There will be no one in the house. Two contractors going to each house at different timings will not work,” Raju, who is also the chairman of the health committee, said.

Opposition leader in the council Abdul Wajeed said the standing committee is only going against the High Court directions. “Similar tenders for the 105 wards have been put on hold despite many warnings from the court. The council had also submitted an affidavit that the tenders would be awarded as per the new system. It’s not done yet. We believe there is a pressure from the state government not to issue tenders. We want to know what is hindering the committee from clearing the file,” he asked.

The 38 wards

* Bharathinagar, Shivajinagar, Kavalbyrasandra, Muneshwaranagar, Rajajinagar, Dayanandanagar, Basaveshwaranagar, Govidnarajanagar, Nayandahalli, Nagarabhavi, Mudalaplya, Azadnagar, Chalavadi Palya, Gali Anjaneya Temple, Deepanjalinagar, Ganesh Mandir, Hosakerehalli, Yediyur, Byrasandra, Adugodi, Lakkasandra, Srinagar, Siddapura, Rayapuram, Dasarahalli, Chokkasandra, Vijanpura, KR Puram, Basavanapura, Hoodi, Garudarpalya, Kempegowda, Chowdeshwari, Attur, Vidyaranyapura, Bommanahalli, Manganapalya and Singasandra are the 38 wards..
* No. of auto tippers per ward: 14-40
* No. of compactors: 1-5

* Annual expenditure per ward: Rs 90 lakh to Rs 3.2 crore