Garbage piles up as BMC ‘fails’ to collect waste

Congress corporator Asif Zakaria of H-west ward said,“In my ward,because of shortage of vehicles,only 60 per cent of garbage is collected door-to-door. When I asked contractors to make a second round,they said it would not be possible. H-west ward has the highest number of active advanced locality managements (ALMs) but all their efforts are wasted if the BMC does not even collect garbage daily.” He added that as new contracts were issued in August,the two-month period during which the contractors could not be penalised was now over. Zakaria demanded to know when the corporation will take action.

Additional municipal commissioner Mohan Adtani said,“The mobilisation period for the contractors is till December,following which we will penalise them for issues in collection or deduct costs if ward officers are forced to outsource collection. Euro IV vehicles are not yet ready; there is a shortage at the manufacturers’ end. In the meantime,we are using JCB dumpers and old Euro III compactors.”

He added that the BMC collects garbage only from public roads and door-to-door points and hence is not responsible for garbage on MbPT railway line.

“Agencies such as the MbPT,PWD and MMRDA look after garbage in areas of their jurisdiction. We can collect it for them but we charge for this service,” said Adtani.