BMC outsourcing garbage collection to pvt parties

BERHAMPUR: Berhampur Municipal Corporation is considering handing over sanitation of more wards to private parties.“We have stopped recruiting new sweepers. With the population of Berhampur growing alarmingly and the number of wards and vehicles to transport garbage increasing, privatisation of sanitation is the only option,” said city health officer Subhakanta Das, adding that out of the 37 wards, sanitation in 13 wards has been privatised and more were on the pipeline. BMC was presently managing 450km road and 450-km drain of the corporation. Sanitation was privatised in ward numbers 10, 13, 14, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30 and 32. Sanitation in another two to three wards would be privatised within two months, he said. “Privatisation has yielded good result and we are initiating steps to privatise sanitation in all wards in phases,” he said. Hadu Patra, corporator of ward number 28 of BMC, is happy with the privatisation of sanitation in his ward. “BMC is providing Rs 1.60 lakh per month to the private contractor taking care of sanitation in my ward. The staff employed by the contractor collect garbage from every house each day, even on holidays, which we can’t expect from the sanitation staff of BMC. The roads, drains and the scavenger lanes are being cleaned everyday and the public is free to complain to the higher authorities,” said the corporator. BMC has 759 sweepers and drain cleaners including 371 regular and 388 casual staff. Considering the national average which states that two sweepers are needed to clean and maintain half-a-km of road and drain, we require a total of 1,800 sweepers in Berhampur. But we are now managing the task with only 759 of them. We have vehicles to transport garbage, said the health officer. Privatisation of sanitation has helped us to deploy sweepers and drain cleaners in only 24 wards which resulted in reducing our burden, he added. BMC has deployed sanitation staff in various wards considering the density of population and the quantity of garbage the area generates. “In ward number 12, the number of sanitation staff is 37 while seven are managing the responsibility in ward number 37,” Das said. “We are dumping the garbage at Chandini Hills near Sukunda Math spread over an area of 20-acres 10-km from the BMC office and strictly instructed the drivers of these vehicles to make two trips during the morning and one trip in the evening on every working days”, said the Health Officer. The BMC has initiated steps to establish a garbage disposal plant at Chandini Hills under PPP mode. “We have already built the boundary wall and the gate. Electrification is under progress and the garbage disposal plant with a capacity of 400 MT may come up with in 2 to 3 years”, said Das.

Source: The Telegraph