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Public Health / Sanitation

Garbage cleaning in Trichy city to be outsourced

Thursday, 22 December 2011 11:29 administrator
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The Times of India        22.12.2011

Garbage cleaning in Trichy city to be outsourced

TNN | Dec 22, 2011, 06.01AM IST

TRICHY: The Tiruchirappalli Corporation on Wednesday passed a resolution to outsource garbage cleaning to private parties. Talking to The Times of India after the meeting, corporation commissioner, Veeraraghava Rao said that to start with, garbage collection in the Gandhi Market area and the Central Bus Stand would be outsourced on a trial basis and then it would be extended to the rest of the city.

The sanitary department of the corporation had received a lot of flak in the recent past, as heaps of garbage was not cleared in time. This is because there are only nine sanitary inspectors assigned for supervising 65 wards for a population of nearly one million.

Moreover, of the 60-odd posts of sanitary supervisors about 50 of them are yet to be filled. Sources said record clerks, bill collectors and drivers were not interested to get promoted as conservancy workers in the grade of sanitary supervisors.

There should have been a sanitary supervisor in each of the 60 wards, supervising a total of 1,743 sanitary workers who carry the garbage in push-carts to the 1.5 tonne compacter bins at designated collection points in the city from where it would be taken to the ultimate composite yard in the 2.5 metric tonne container bins.

Interestingly, in its first session on November 14, the corporation admitted that 22 workers, who were serving in the sanitary and engineering departments had been allowed to drive the corporation vehicles to tide over the severe shortage of licensed drivers.

Out of a total of 113 sanctioned posts, only 70 drivers are working on a permanent basis and the rest are outsourced from retired ex-servicemen. The corporation also authorised to recruit 15 such drivers on contract basis. As of today, the corporation has a total number of 140 vehicles.

As such, cleaning the streets of garbage was a paramount problem for the cash-strapped corporation and outsourcing became the only solution as it is also heavily short-staffed.

The commissioner also stated in the house that the Rs 221 crore drinking water project would be completed by April next year. Out of a total 37 new overhead water tanks, 20 are completed and the remaining 17 are in varying stages of completion, he said.

Rao confided that the contract period had been extended and if everything now goes to according to plan, the project what would have fulfilled the total water needs of the city would be ready by April next year.

 

Garbage overflow forces corpn think out of box

Thursday, 22 December 2011 10:47 administrator
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The Times of India       22.12.2011

Garbage overflow forces corpn think out of box

 

 
CHENNAI: Do garbage bins on your street corner spill more garbage than they collect? Garbage strewn around could be a thing of the past if a project of the corporation works out. The corporation is doing a pilot project in ward 141 (parts of T Nagar), where it would collect garbage from households.

Conservancy workers will collect the garbage from the households every morning. Residents have welcomed the move, provided the clearance is regular. "The worker should come regularly. The clearance now is irregular, which is why garbage spills out of bins," said Rajeswari J of T Nagar.

The corporation says workers will come in small trucks and tricycles to collect garbage. "Each worker will dump the garbage collected into a common bin which we will clear," said an engineer in the solid waste management department.

The civic body plans to install six to seven garbage bins each in seven to eight places in every zone. A larger garbage collection vehicle will come once a day and empty the bins.

The civic body is also mulling options of introducing source segregation and alternative methods of garbage disposal. "People can start separating biodegradable and non-degradable items. We could collect non-degradable waste once a week, and other waste daily," said an official. Protests against dumping yards, seems to have finally got the corporation to consider other options.

"Once the garbage is segregated, we can think of other means, or at least reduce dumping in Kodangaiyur and Perungudi," said a corporation official. Activists and waste disposal experts found it promising. "It's a positive step that should have been taken 10 years ago, but we believe that segregation and decentralization of garbage should go hand in hand," said Swetha Narayan, an activist who has been campaigning against the Kodungaiyur dumping yard.

The initiative is mayor Saidai Duraisamy's pet project for a clean city. The project will be studied till the end of February, and if successful will be extended to three other wards and later to other zones.

Corporation officials say the contract with Ramky Enviro to clear the garbage in three of the city's 15 zones will not be disturbed by the project.

"Once we are sure of this initiative's success in many zones, we may probably request them to shift to this method," an official said.
Last Updated on Thursday, 22 December 2011 11:32
 

Garbage piles up, hygiene comes down

Tuesday, 20 December 2011 07:08 administrator
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The Hindu        20.12.2011

Garbage piles up, hygiene comes down

P.V.V. Murthi
EYESORE: The accumulated garbage behind the fish market, which causes unbearable stench at the junction of Kripananda Variar Road and Anna Bazaar in Vellore. — Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan
EYESORE: The accumulated garbage behind the fish market, which causes unbearable stench at the junction of Kripananda Variar Road and Anna Bazaar in Vellore. — Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan

The accumulation of garbage continues to be a problem in the residential and commercial areas in Vellore Corporation since the concept of daily collection of garbage from houses and shops is yet to be implemented in the Vellore Corporation.

The people in the erstwhile town panchayats of Allapuram and Thorappadi, who hoped that things would turn for the better after the annexation of these local bodies to the Vellore Corporation are disappointed that things have not improved except for the fact that the Corporation has placed dumper dustbins on Azad Road in Thorappadi and in different parts of Allapuram. But the practice of dumping garbage on vacant plots continues.

In the absence of daily collection, the accumulating garbage causes an unbearable stench in places like Kumaraswamy Street Extension in Thorappadi and Khaderpet in Chinna Allapuram. The garbage is cleared only once a week or in 10 days.

The residents of Kumaraswamy Street Extension dumped garbage on a vacant plot since the plastic bin that was kept there was burnt along with the garbage which was burnt by the residents about two years ago.

The residents want a steel dumper bin to be placed there to facilitate the dumping of garbage in the bin and prevent the dumping on the vacant plot and the resultant health hazard.

The shop-keepers on Kripananda Variar Road (Long Bazaar) complained of unbearable stench from the garbage accumulating in the place behind the fish market. The problem has aggravated after the crumbling of the wall of the market selling bamboo baskets on Anna Bazaar, adjacent to the fish market. The shop-keepers dump the garbage over the wall into the space behind the fish market.

The volume of garbage has increased after this, and though the Corporation workers remove the garbage every day, it is not removed completely, as a result of which the stench continues for the whole day, complain shop-keepers. They want the garbage to be removed completely before the opening of the shops daily.

When asked about the steps taken by the Corporation to address the problem of accumulating garbage, Seeni Ajmal Khan, Commissioner of Vellore Corporation told The Hindu that the State government has sanctioned Rs.20 crore to the Corporation under the Urban Development Mission, of which Rs.five crore has been sanctioned for solid waste management (SWM).

After the annexation of nearby town panchayats to Vellore Corporation, the latter is handicapped by the shortage of vehicles used for removal of garbage and the shortage of drivers.

The problem of accumulating garbage behind the fish market was due to the fact the existing excavator vehicle is engaged full time in the compost yard in Sadupperi.

The Corporation proposed to buy four dumper placer vehicles which would collect the garbage stored in the steel dumper bins placed in various roads in the Corporation area, two compacter vehicles for transporting the garbage in a compacted position to the Sadupperi compost yard, and about 200 push-carts and tricycles.

Once the new vehicles were purchased, the problem of accumulating garbage could be solved. Besides, the Corporation proposed to engage ex-servicemen drivers to operate the vehicles involved in collection and transport of garbage, he said. The Commissioner said that the Corporation proposed to hand over the SWM project in the Corporation to the private sector on a BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis.

Since the Corporation generated about 175 tonnes of garbage daily, the entrusting of the work to a private agency would facilitate the daily collection of garbage, scientific processing of garbage, and a solution to the environmental problem.

After obtaining a consultancy report, the Corporation would call for tenders for entrusting the SWM to a private agency, he said.

 
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