PUDUCHERRY: The local body officials in Villinaur and Ariankuppam commune panchayat villages here heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday after Bengaluru-based Swatchata Corporation (SWC) took over the responsibility of collecting and disposing of garbage.
For the past three years the officials had been handling the additional responsibility of waste disposal after the contract of the private agency entrusted with the task was terminated.
SWC on Thursday commenced door-to-door collection and disposal of garbage. The areas covered by the agency include Villianur, Odiampet and Kurumbapet villages under Villianur commune panchayat and Ariyankuppam and Manavely villages under Ariyankuppam panchayat. The waste is being disposed of at Kurumbapet dumping yard, said Director of Local Administration R T Rudra Goud.
The collection and transportation of garbage in the Puducherry Urban Agglomeration Area comprising the Municipalities of Pondicherry and Oulgaret, and parts of Villinaur and Ariankuppam Commune Panchayats were awarded to Swachatha Corporation through a Memorandum of Understanding executed on May 20.
SWC utilised the last three months in shoring up its infrastructure by arranging for vehicles and manpower. SWC stable comprises 18 compactors; one road sweeping machine, which is capable of sweeping eight km under an hour; 25 Ace autos tippers; 50 Ace Zips; 221 tricycles with six bins of 80 litre capacity; and 190 pushcarts with four bins of 50 litre capacity each, said Ganeshan, in-charge, SWC Puducherry operations.
Around 1,000 people have been engaged for the work in Puducherry, who will work in three shifts. Once a day the garbage will be cleared and transported. In a bid to maintain hygiene, workers have been provided with gloves, caps uniform and masks. Work under Oulgaret Municipality will be taken up on September 23, and under Puducherry Municipal areas on September 30, he added.
The government had outsourced the waste disposal work to SWC after the termination of contract with Kivar Environ Pvt Ltd. Kivar Environ stopped work in April 2012. Since then, the Municipalities and Commune Panchayats were managing waste disposal on their own, with great difficulty through contractors and municipal workers. The arbitration filed by Kivar Environ is pending in HC.
As per terms and conditions of the agreement, government has entered into the agreement with SWC for a period of 10 years. The government would be paying them on the basis of the garbage collected and transported, said Goud. It has been fixed at `1,782 per tonne. The pay rate would rise by five per cent every year. A weighing facility has been established at dumping yard at Kurumbapet.
The government is also in the process of establishing a facility for processing solid waste.