BENGALURU: What is touted as a perfect solution for the city’s garbage crisis is likely to be launched soon, as out of the new 33-package garbage tenders that the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) had floated, 23 are finalised and will roll out soon.
The remaining 10 packages are being re-tendered, according to top officials at BSWML. The official said that the total value of the 33-package tenders is around Rs 3,900 crore, where garbage contractors have to look after garbage collection and transportation for seven years.
The new packages, with one for each of the 28 assembly constituencies in Bengaluru and two packages for bigger constituencies, are seen to put an end to the irregular door-to-door garbage collection, reappearing black spots, illegal garbage collection from bulk-generators, collection of mixed waste, etc., according to BSWML officials.
Speaking to TNIE, a top BSWML official said, “Excluding the outer areas, Bengaluru’s population is 1.2 crore. If we consider that there are four members in each family, there are around 30 lakh households in the city. For every 750 households, we will have an auto fitted with a GPS, with one ton capacity to collect segregated wastes. In total, the city will have 5,000 such autos.”
Under the new contracts, the existing autos, which have a carrying capacity of not even 500 kg, are to be replaced with new vehicles with a carrying capacity of minimum of one ton of garbage, and four-wheelers to have a capacity ranging from two tonnes to five tonnes, the official said.
He added that the existing garbage contractors were against the tight-rules in the new package, as the onus of keeping the city clean is on them and, if not, they will be slapped with different fines for the violations.
He added, “Garbage collection would be completely monitored from collection to disposal, and payments would be withheld for violations. In the current system, there is no accountability. Vehicles go to collect garbage only twice a week, and they are getting paid. As the new package wants to end all of these, there is stiff opposition to this new package from the garbage contractors and that was the reason for the flash protest by them last month.”
“For each division (assembly constituency), the garbage contractor has to invest Rs 10 crore, which includes the purchase of the vehicles with a specific carrying capacity,” he said.
Bigger constituencies like Yeshvanthpur, Dasarahalli, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, K R Puram and Mahadevapura are divided into two packages, he said.