KANPUR: The door-to-door collection of garbage by Kanpur Nagar Nigam (KNN) has started in the certain areas from September 1. However, the civic body has been facing difficulties to implement the scheme. Shortage of sanitary workers and lack of civic sense among the masses as cited as the hurdles for the survival of the project in its initial stages.

The KNN is not charging user charges from the locals as per the prescribed norms. Although Rs 30 to Rs 50 has to be charged by the department from each household. But due to lack of awareness among masses, the KNN has been charging no money as locals are finding it difficult to come to terms with the new method. Notably, the project that aims to cover 90,000 houses in 18 wards of zone 4 by September 30 has covered only 35,000 houses till date.

"The people are not aware about door-to-door collection of garbage. They are hesitant to pay user charges. Generally, they stick to one sweeper who not only collects the garbage from the house but clean the toilets on a regular note. Therefore, it is difficult for the sanitary workers to explain the objective of the garbage collection that aims to keep the city clean," municipal commissioner R Vikram Singh said.

Notedly, the SWM project involves collection, primary storage, secondary collection, transfer, transportation, processing by composting and disposal of waste into the landfill in accordance with MSW 2000 rules. Presently, the nagar nigam is able to collect 33 metric tonnes of garbage from areas like Sesamau, MacRobert Ganj, Ashok Nagar, Nehru Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Sutar Khana, Prem Nagar, Beacanganj, Dalelpurwa and Colonel Ganj.

The nagar nigam has been facing crunch of sanitary workers. The entire zone has to be cleaned jointly by the KNN sanitary workers and those from the private company. Presently, 200 workers and 22 supervisors have been appointed to clean different wards. On a regular note, the sweepers have to cover 300 to 400 houses. "We are facing difficulties to implement the project due to scarcity of workers. Every month around 10-15 nagar nigam sweepers are taking retirement from the job. It is a difficult task to fill the vacant post. Therefore, we have asked the private company carrying out the solid waste management scheme in the city to increase the number of its workers," the municipal commissioner added.

Chief operating officer KSV Nair said: "Initially, the project aims to sort the problems while implementing the it on a practical ground. According to the survey, there are 90,000 houses in zone 4, generating around 150 tonnes of garbage per day. The workers are being trained since the past one month to deal with the locals and to motivate them to be a part of this project. A control room will also start within a month where people can complain if they witness irregularities."