Days after the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) found that it was paying for the services of more than a 100 bogus compactors that existed only on paper, it has uncovered a similar scam with the autorickshaws used to collect garbage from residences.
It was being billed for around 5,000 auto rickshaws every month, but officials suspect that the actual number could be much lower.
For the last three months, officials have been trying to get contractors to install a GPS system in their autos or download a GPS app on the driver’s phone to monitor them.
“Of the 5,000-odd autos that we have been paying for, after three months, we are able to bring only 1800-odd autos under the GPS radar,” said Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, SWM, BBMP.
The existence of the remaining 3,200 autos is being questioned. “Our estimate is that there may be bogus billing for at least 1,000 non-existent autorickshaws,” said a senior official.
The BBMP has also been pushing for installation of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, which along with GPS will enable officials to bring in a more transparent garbage management system. But this too has been met with little success.
The contract rates for compactors and auto rickshaws have been revised recently and the civic body is yet to start paying them according to the new rates. Officials want to pay revised rates only to those contractors who have installed GPS and RFID chips.
In response, contractors held a flash strike on June 11.
No GPS, no payment?
“Contractors have always pushed back against reforms by creating a garbage crisis. As an agency outsourcing work, we are well within our rights to link payment of revised rates to live monitoring of the vehicles we pay for,” said Mr. Khan. “We will give them another two weeks to get on to the GPS bandwagon. We are planning to make a dashboard that monitors the movement of these vehicles. This dashboard will be accessible to the public on the BBMP website so that residents of each ward can keep track of the same.”
Senior garbage contractor Balasubramanyam said the BBMP had failed to generate awareness on this initiative, and that it was wrong for civic officials to say that they are opposed to reforms. “There are only 89 contractors who the BBMP has accepted as service providers. Why not issue a notice to us directly with clear instructions?” he said, adding that the civic body is guilty of blaming contractors while letting officials who clear bogus bills off the hook.
