BMC to set up dedicated control room to track garbage vehicles

While citizens and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are locked in a blame-game over why rules for mandatory waste segregation and disposal have not been effective in the city, BMC now plans to set up a control room for real-time tracking of waste collection vehicles so that they can be monitored closely, and to crack down on contractors who are found to be slacking.

Though the BMC’s waste collection vehicles have tracking devices installed in them, there is currently no dedicated room to keep a check on them. Its Solid Waste Management department will set up a command and control room with a video wall in the department’s Grant Road office.

Also, all 1,350 garbage collecting compactors will have attached loudspeakers that will play a `Swachh Bharat’ theme song and messages to create awareness about waste processing and segregation.

Meanwhile, residents and activists claim that the BMC does not bother to check waste segregation when loading garbage onto collection vehicles. BMC, however, blames residents for not segregating dry and wet waste despite the civic body offering tax rebate and prosecuting those flouting rules.

Also Read: BMC to exempt houses up to 500 sq ft from property tax

Ashok Khaire, Joint municipal commissioner (solid waste management) said, “Despite many requests, campaigns and meetings with citizens and residents associations, we still struggle to get segregated waste from a lot of localities. Societies face a challenge as some of their members are cooperative and others are not. Therefore last year we decided to give authority to societies to identify those not doing it and act accordingly.”

He added, “BMC offers a rebate on property tax to societies that segregate their garbage and process wet waste on the premises BMC also prosecutes those flouting these rules. However neither incentive nor prosecution has been helping from us.”

From 2018 to January 2020, BMC has prosecuted a total of 1325 bulk generators (establishments /housing societies that are spread across an area of more than 20,000 square meters or those producing more than 100kg wet waste every day) under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) and Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Acts. There are total of 3,363 bulk generators identified by the BMC.

For every offence, the BMC files a case and the matter is heard in the Metropolitan Court. The fine can range between Rs 2,000-5,000 depending on the decision of the court. BMC has managed to collect a total fine amount of Rs 42.93 lakh up to January 2020.

“This apathy, combined with the neglect of the administration only benefits contractors in charge of dumping grounds, as they get paid for every tonne of waste dumped,” said an official from the BMC’s solid waste management department, on condition of anonymity. To ensure house-to-house collection of dry waste, the civic body had tied up with not-for-profits that would collect dry waste from households, sort through it further at designated dry waste sorting and storage centres, and sell it to recyclers. There are 94 big tempos that collect dry waste from across the city wards.

Advanced locality management (ALMs) and civic activists have also been complaining that the civic body lacks the infrastructure to enforce segregation. However, BMC says it has 1350 large and small compactors that have separate compartments for not just dry and wet waste, but even E-waste.

“That dry waste collection vehicles do not ply many times, this shows that the BMC lacks infrastructure. Even if they are introducing compactors with three compartments, the waste collectors do not bother to check whether the garbage they are dumping in the compactors are segregated or not. Everything gets mixed, defeating the concept of mandatory segregation at source?” Lina Mascarenhas, a resident of Pali Hill, Bandra.

BJP Corporator from Vile Parle, Abhijeet Samant said, “Dry waste vans do not come for days, prompting regular complaints from housing societies. We have three big compactors making rounds in our ward no 84, but none has three compartments.”

Indrani Malkani, ALM ward coordinator for D ward and Managing Trustee of V Citizens Action Network, said, “When citizens have the right to demand cleanliness from the civic body, they also have a duty. They must adhere to rules on segregation. BMC is facing a huge challenge, and they need to understand that contractors are not their direct employees. Citizens have to act more responsibly here. If we at Malabar Hill have done it successfully, everyone can do it.”

Archana Sharma, social activists and former president of Bandra Bandstand ALM said, “BMC just warns, it needs to act. They should stop collecting waste from those who do not segregate waste. Those collecting waste need to be educated as they do not check what they are dumping in the compactor.”

source https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/bmc-to-set-up-dedicated-control-room-to-track-garbage-vehicles