The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has hired new hands to clean up the city, which is reeling under tens of thousands of tonnes of garbage rotting on the streets. The BBMP council on Tuesday accorded approval to the new garbage tenders, thereby showing the old garbage mafia the door and saving Rs. 46 crore in the process.
The BBMP council has, in the past, witnessed heated debate on getting rid of the existing garbage contractors and entrusting the work to new ones. The councillors also viewed the contractors as a cartel as they had successfully scuttled BBMP’s attempts to float new tenders. The BBMP council approved the tenders for 80 of 89 packages, which will come into effect from November 15, Commissioner Rajneesh Goel told reporters. Till then, the old contractors are mandated to clear the city streets.
The total cost of the new contracts (all 89 packages) is Rs. 306 crore. The BBMP, currently spending Rs. 352 crore on these 89 packages, will save Rs. 46 crore with the new contracts.
Commissioner Goel said tenders were finalised for only 80 packages since there were no bidders for four packages, only single bidders for four other packages, while for the last, the bidder was found to be ineligible.
In a few years,the cost of trash removal, transport and recycling may run into a few thousand crores countrywide and it is desirable to streamline the entire system. So far we are witnessing a very inefficient system of management which cannot be tolerated further. The GOI should evolve a system to bring uniformity in the operations and streamlimg the management.
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