The Hindu 04.03.2013
Proposal submitted to privatise garbage collection
Initially it will be implemented in 16 wards.
The Erode Corporation has planned to privatise the garbage collection on a fast track. It has submitted a detailed proposal to the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration seeking approval for plan.
“We expect that the approval will be given within a month or two. The Commissionerate has sought a few clarifications and we have replied to them recently,” a senior official here said.
Once approved, the civic body would call for tenders and select an agency for implementing the door-to-door collection of waste quickly. “We want to handover the process to the private sector as quickly as possible because we face a serious shortage of conservancy workers in the town. The labour shortage has severely affected the garbage collection in many parts of the town,” the official added.
The civic body has planned to privatise the garbage collection in 16 wards initially.
It has selected four wards from each zone – wards 2, 3, 6 and 8 from Zone I, wards 17, 26, 28 and 30 from Zone II, wards 31, 32, 33 and 34 from Zone III and wards 46, 50, 55 and 56 from Zone IV. The town generates more than 150 tonnes of garbage, including a large amount of plastic and polythene waste, every day.
Residents and commercial establishments dump huge amount of the waste on streets as the civic body was not able to implement door-to-door waste collection in all the parts of the town due to labour shortage. The garbage on many parts remain uncollected on the streets for days together.
The rotting garbage on the streets pose serious health hazards to the people.
The mounting garbage also led to a sharp rise in the stray dog menace. The dogs feast on the garbage and spread terror in many neighbourhoods.
The civic officials hope that privatisation would help streamline the garbage collection and improve the sanitary conditions significantly. Garbage collection in other wards would also be privatised in a phased manner, officials here say.
The Corporation council has already given its nod for the privatisation of garbage collection.
