With monsoons round the corner, the municipality has launched new initiatives for collection and disposal of garbage to keep the city clean.
In addition to tractor, now compactor vehicles are being pressed into service for collection and disposal of garbage. Already a compactor vehicle along with 25 large bins has been acquired by Oulgaret Municipality and three more compactors with bins are being acquired for Puducherry and Oulgaret municipalities, said Director of Local Administration Department A S P S Ravi Prakash. Each compactor costs around Rs 35 lakh, which is capable of carrying 40 tonnes of garbage.
Besides, cameras have been mounted at garbage dumping yard at Kurumbapet to rule out foul play in claiming payments for the work. These cameras will be connected to the computers of the Commissioner of the Municipalities and the Director of Local Administration, Minister for Local Administration N G Paneerselvam told Express.
As the present system is not foolproof, it has given scope for allegations. MLAs during the Assembly session alleged that contractors got payment by making ‘false’ claims such as seeking payment even when they didn’t clear the garbage on a daily basis and seeking payment for more number of tractor trips. The new system is being brought in to ensure that no payment is made before the prescribed work is completed.
Currently, collection and disposal of garbage has been outsourced to contractors, who are carrying out the work with tractors. On an average these tractors make 100 to 150 trips per day from the collection point to the dumping yard at Kurumbapet.
The huge disposal bins procured by the municipality would be placed at points where garbage generation is more. These spots have been identified through a survey. In areas where the compactor cannot enter, the clearing will be done by tractors. Besides there will be moping groups with tricycles, said Ravi Prakash.
The number of tractor loads as well as the compactor loads that are dumped will be monitored. Besides, a weigh bridge will be installed at the dumpyard for weighing the collected garbage. As the payment is made on the basis of number of clearances, this method will help in ascertaining the exact amount of work carried out and appropriate payment would be made.