BENGALURU: Amid a row over payment, as many as ten of the 13 functional wet garbage treatment plants in the city are shut for over a week now. While the private firm has claimed non-payment of dues by BBMP, the civic body alleged that the bills were inflated.
Each bio-methanisation plant has a capacity to process 5 tons of wet garbage per day. All the ten shut plants are operated by engineering firm Ashoka Green. The remaining three are managed by the firm Mailhem.
Ashoka Green manager Rahul Awdahe said the firm wasn’t paid for three years and Rs 20.83 crore in payments were due. “Seeking payment of dues, we shut down all the 10 plants and protested at K R Market on January 2. We also met Mayor Padmavathi who promised to pay a part of the outstanding sum,” he added.
BBMP’s Joint Commissioner (Health and Solid Waste Management) Sarfaraz Khan, however, refuted Awdahe’s allegations and said the amount being demanded by Ashoka Green was inappropriately high.
He said, “The cost of operating the plant is Rs 10 crore. The firm says they have made modifications and has inflated the bill by about Rs 11 crore. They are making an effort to arm-twist us by shutting down the plants. If they don’t open the plants in a day or two, we will break it open and ensure that they start functioning. They are our plants and we own them.”
He also informed that a discussion between the plant representatives and the BBMP officials was likely on Thursday, after which a decision will be taken.
Following the closure of the 10 plants, wet waste is being diverted to other larger plants like the one at Mavallipura. The closure did not cause any problem in disposal of wet waste, Khan said.
When contacted, Awdahe countered these claims by saying that the amount being claimed was as per the contract signed with BBMP.
He said one of the reasons for the high amount was BBMP’s one-year delay in allotting them land. Another component of the claims is the interest payable for late payment at the rate of 18 per cent per annum as per the contract, which comes up to a total of about Rs 2 crore.
“All the additional works were certified by BBMP,” he said, adding Sarfaraz Khan did not reply to any of the several letters sent to him by the firm. The ownership of the plants is also not clear. While Sarfaraz Khan said the BBMP owns the plants, Awdahe asserts that while the contract had been in effect until the end of 2016, due to BBMP’s delays, the period of operation maintenance was not three years as stated in the contract, which gives them ownership until November 2017.