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.