The Times of India         18.12.2013

KMC seeks central grant to tackle garbage woes

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will press for a Rs 100-crore grant on Wednesday to upgrade its existing infrastructure to tackle solid waste management in the city.

Subhasish Chattopadhyay, a KMC executive engineer credited to have designed and set up country's first waste compactor station, will meet senior officials of the Union urban development ministry for inclusion of the Rs 100-crore project in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission ( JNNURM). If the Centre gives a nod, the civic body will be able to do away with 78 major vats across the city and replace them with compactor stations.

Chattopadhyay first designed a compactor station in consultation with mayor-in-council member Debabrata Majumdar, who oversees the solid waste management department. The idea was to replace large, open vats after chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked mayor Sovan Chatterjee to make sure that these 'primitive' garbage vats were replaced by a modern system. Accordingly, city's first compactor station was set up in Kalighat. After its success, the KMC set up four more such stations in different locations. The fifth one is awaiting its inauguration.

If the Centre approves the proposal, the civic body would set up compactor stations in some of the worst affected areas where garbage spills over large vats. "We will set up these stations at Free School Street, Dharmatolla (near Metro cinema), Camac Street, Tarasundari Park (Girish Park), AJC Bose Road, Bhowanipore, Kidderpore and Behala in the first phase," Majumdar said on Tuesday.

This is not all. The KMC has pressed into service moveable tipper compactors that collect garbage directly from roads where there are no vats. "We are collecting garbage from Naktala, Behala, Jadavpur and Shyambazar by operating such compactors," a KMC official said. The official said that 30 more such compactors could be bought once the KMC proposal is granted. "If the proposal is passed, we will no longer depend on rickety trucks to carry garbage from different locations. We can save on transportation of wastes," Majumdar said.