The Indian Express 14.11.2013
Civic body to launch hi-tech system for waste collection
Municipal Corporation is set to make its garbage collection system hi-tech. A software has been developed through which garbage bins that are lifted in a day can be tracked.
Different sectors would be assigned to sanitary inspectors who would regularly update the conditions in their respective areas.
A system of cross-checking the claims would also be in place.
The sanitation system in the city is at present in a dire state. Heaps of garbage can be found at different places. There are frequent complaints about garbage bins not being picked regularly. The issue has been raised time and again in meetings of the MC house.
A software has now been developed to monitor the system. There are 483 garbage bins in different sectors. Of these around 60 per cent are supposed to be lifted everyday. The frequency of lifting is set as per the quantity of garbage that is put in a bin everyday. In some areas where the population is more the bins fill up faster than in other areas.
The driver who will lift a bin would send an SMS to a predecided number that would be with an official of MC. Once the garbage bin reaches the Garbage Processing Plant, a person designated at the plant would send an SMS acknowledging that the garbage has been received as well as the quantity. The information would simultaneously be uploaded using the software and would be available for all officers to see.
Any delay in taking the garbage bin to the processing plant would come to light after checking the difference in time of the two SMSes received. It would also corroborate the claim of the driver of having lifted a particular bin. There have been instances when the management of the garbage processing plant has complained of delay in garbage being received and the quantity being less.
Apart from this, the sanitary inspectors would have to regularly visit these areas and update information about whether the areas they checked were clean or not. This information would be cross checked by a chief sanitary inspector who would conduct checks in the areas at regular intervals.
Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Rajiv Gupta said, "The testing of the software would be done later this week. The requirements of the software were specified by us and it was developed by NIC. This would ensure that the system of garbage collection in the city is streamlined. The claims of the sanitary inspectors of keeping a tab on the areas would also be verified."
The attempts by the MC to bring about changes in the garbage collection system in the past have met with resistance from different quarters. The proposal to hire contractors for door-to-door collection of garbage had led to strike by collectors for several days and the proposal had to be scrapped. There have been complaints about there being more sweepers on the rolls than the number that is present on ground.
