The Times of India                29.10.2013

Corporation to reactivate RFID tags to monitor waste clearance

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Shelling out Rs 60 per month for garbage clearance seems to be too much of a demand for at least some of the residents of Palayam. A month after the city corporation resumed waste collection in Palayam, the miserly folk among the residents haven't paid their due to the cleanwell workers.

As part of the collection process, each household ought to pay Rs 60 per month to the cleanwell worker. The collection status, which was compiled last week, was dismal. Of the total 2,100 households that are covered under the scheme, the amount could be collected from only 625 households.

The excuse for this refusal to pay the sum sounds weird. According to the residents, the cleanwell workers haven't turned up on a regular basis and hence Rs 60 cannot be paid. However, the officials who keep a record of the work of cleanwell workers, rule it out citing that except for four days, the collection was carried out consistently.

The city corporation is now planning to reactivate the radio frequency identification tags which could be used to monitor waste collection in households. As per the project, the cleanwell workers in the city will be equipped with readers and this will be read by the RFID installed in the households. This would enable the officials to monitor their attendance at various homes every day. A copy of this record will be provided to all households on a monthly basis.

The project had earlier failed to take off once the waste collection had come to a halt in the city following the closure of garbage treatment plant at Vilappilsala in December, 2011.The corporation had almost completed the installation of RFID tags in about two lakh households in various wards.

"If the residents are so reserved about paying Rs 60 on a monthly basis, we have to look for other options. The health wing has already been directed to activate the RFID tags. We had detected faults in only about 25 machines at Palayam. This will be soon rectified and a proper monitoring system will be put in place," welfare standing committee chairman Palayam Rajan said.

The civic body had earlier imposed severe fine on certain residents who had refused to give waste to corporation and instead dumped it on roadsides despite having a proper waste management system. In a drive that lasted for ten days, the health wing had collected fine to the tune of Rs 62,000 following which many residents joined the waste collection initiative.