The State Government has finally cleared the decks to implement the three-package solid waste management scheme as it has approved the revised scheme of the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC).
According to Commissioner of the MCC K.N. Vijayaprakash, the MCC will be the first civic body in the State to implement the three-package scheme.
Mr. Vijayaprakash told The Hindu on Monday that the Government approved the revised scheme on July 14. The civic body would shortly invite e-bids to select three contractors. The existing six-package scheme will expire this July-end. As implementing the three-package scheme will take a few more months, the corporation recently invited short-term bids to handle solid waste in eight packages. When the three-package scheme is implemented, the short-term contracts will be terminated, he said.
Main features
The main features of the three-package scheme are: there will not be multiple handling of solid waste by many contractors in 60 wards of the corporation; people need not pay users' fee for the collection of solid waste from their doorstep; vehicles transporting solid waste from wards to the dumping yard will be fitted with global positioning system devices and there will be mechanised sweeping of select roads and cleaning of beaches.
However, Mr. Vijayaprakash clarified that the MCC was planning to collect solid waste fee from people while collecting annual property tax. The 60 wards in the corporation will be divided into north and south zones for managing the solid waste, with the former having 29 wards in a package, and the latter with 31 wards in another package. The agencies, which secure the contract for each package, would have to take up door-to-door collection of waste. In addition, the successful bidder will have to take up sweeping of streets, cutting vegetation, cleaning road dividers and other sanitary works. They would have to transport the waste to the solid waste compost plant and dumping yard at Pachchanady, he said.
The third package would cover the operation and maintenance of the compost plant and the sanitary landfill site at Panchchanady.
Manjunath R. Shetty, Environment Engineer at the corporation said that there would be mechanised sweeping of a 25-km stretch daily in the south zone.
Carbon credit
Mr. Shetty said that the corporation would make all efforts to claim carbon credit for producing manure from the solid waste at its compost plant. According to the conditions, the contractor awarded the operation and management of the compost plant can sell the manure generated. But the agency will have to pay 50 per cent of the revenue from its sale to the civic body as royalty.
Pourakarmika wards
Mr. Shetty said that of the 60 wards, 13 are pourakarmika wards of which five are in the north zone and eight are in the south zone. Under the new scheme, the pourakarmikas would be entrusted with sweeping streets, cutting vegetation, and cleaning dividers and storm-water drains in those wards.
Mr. Shetty said that it might require six months to fully implement the new scheme.
