The Deccan Chronicle 30.11.2010
BBMP tech claim all rubbish, Bengaluru turns dumpyard
Nov. 29: Bengaluru’s civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been chanting the technology mantra of late to keep the city clean, but the results are hardly visible. While it boasts of having fitted its garbage trucks with a Geographical Positioning System (GPS) to prevent indiscriminate dumping of rubbish on the outskirts the city, the effort doesn’t seem to have paid off.
Although the system is supposed to keep track of the trucks while on the move and also guage the speed at which they are travelling, it is not always able to, leaving people staring at heaps of garbage at several spots on the city’s outskirts. The poor use of GPS has made a mockery of BBMP’s tall claims that trucks that collect the rubbish from the city will no longer be able to get away with dumping garbage anywhere they please.
The fact that they are still able to escape BBMP’s eagle eye, indicates that some garbage contractors are still continuing to get the better of it. It is alleged the GPS system is often tampered with and its battery or wires removed by the truck drivers to escape being monitored by the control room.
A solid waste management expert from Kumara Park, N.S. Ramakanth has no doubt that the system is not working as well as it should be, whatever the reasons may be. “The GPS has failed miserably. When I went to see for myself how it worked for trucks picking up garbage from Kumara Park, I saw the BBMP was not able to really keep track of them,” he says.
Where Geographical Positioning System appears to be helping BBMP is in cutting down the fee it had to pay the contractors for the extra distance they claimed their trucks had covered. BBMP officers say the system has stopped contractors from overcharging it and has helped BBMP save upto Rs 5 lakh a month.
Aware of the shortfalls, the civic agency is now planning to go in for a more sophisticated tracking system, “geo fencing” which will be able to pinpoint the exact location of the garbage trucks using latitude and longtitude values.
Additionally dumping yards will in future have a weigh bridge to estimate the quantum of garbage received to prevent the contractors from trying to make the BBMP believe otherwise.
