The Times of India             05.06.2013

North corporation raps firm tasked with waste management

NEW DELHI: With no plan to manage waste in the capital, North Delhi Municipal Corporation has pulled up the private concessionaire responsible for it. Even after four years, Ramki Group, responsible for the waste management, has listed basic functions like waste segregation and door-to-door collection under their 'scope of work' category.

North Delhi Municipal Corporation commissioner, P K Gupta has clearly indicated that their contract will be terminated if services don't improve. "We are very dissatisfied with the services by Ramki Group. Even basic functions aren't being carried out and they have delayed the project of waste-to-energy," said Gupta.

When asked about terminating the contract, he said "the project is nearing final stage and even if we terminate the contract, we don't have any alternative as there is no other company to handle such big project in this field. However, we have been regularly imposing heavy penalties on the contractor."

However, RAMKI group officials blame the residents for not cooperating and the corporation, for not able to carry out the work. "Waste segregation is supposed to take place at home but despite many camps and initiatives to educate the residents on segregation, all our efforts have gone in vain. In fact, several hoarding were also put up but to no good. Now, we have four segregation machines at the landfill site," said Sathyamurthy, general manager, Ramki group.

On Tuesday, the company showed a presentation showing its future waste management plans, which had old promises. Gupta said that these are all part of the agreement between them.