KOCHI: For long, Kochiites have been forced to put up with a ‘stinking’ issue as the Kochi corporation is depending on hired open lorries for collection of waste from various parts of the city to be taken to the Brahmapuram waste treatment facility.
The trail of stench left by these open vehicles as they pass is nauseating to both motorists and pedestrians. Finally, respite is in sight with the Cochin Smart City Ltd (CSML) set to hand over 15 refuse garbage compactor trucks for waste collection in two weeks.
“The CSML is purchasing the modern fully-covered, hydraulic waste collection vehicles using its own funds and will hand over the same to us. They have informed us that the process to hand over the vehicles is in the final stage,” said Mayor Adv M Anilkumar.
When contacted, a senior CSML official said they were awaiting the delivery of the 10-tonne garbage compactor trucks from the company, and the same will be handed over to the civic body soon after Onam. The corporation owns 13 refuse compactor trucks, but often a majority of vehicles of the ageing fleet, procured from a foreign firm over 10 years ago, would lie idle. Though it had 24 covered tippers too for waste collection, they too are now over 15 years old. and have been taken off the roads.
“The problem with our refuse compactor trucks was that they were procured from a foreign company. So upon developing technical snags, the company personnel had to come from Bengaluru as there were no local units here. This often caused much delay. Now seven such vehicles are under repair,” said a senior corporation official.
The same has forced the civic body to collect waste by hiring lorries. “Since each lorry handles only 5-tonnes of waste, we’re forced to hire around 20 to 25 trucks per day. The maximum waste collected per day is around 250 tonnes,” he added.
The maintenance of the old compactor truck fleet and the cost of hiring lorries for transportation of waste have burnt a hole in the corporation’s pocket.
The civic body coughed up Rs 96 lakh between April 2020 and December 2022 alone for waste collection.
The corporation aims to save a substantial amount once the CSML hands over the 15 refuse compactor trucks. “We’ve already shelved our plan to purchase modern trucks. Also, we can cut the lorries needed to be hired to just five or below. The same would save us a substantial amount,” the official pointed out.
Refuse garbage compactor trucks are vehicles that mechanically gather waste and compact them to gain more space within the truck superstructure body, thereby enabling automatic waste collection using the hydraulic system.