Citizens can now get the newly hired Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) contractors to pay up 5 per cent of their daily contract value as penalty for any negligence on their part to clear the garbage by filing a complaint with the civic authority.
The BBMP, which is attempting to revamp its solid waste management (SWM) mechanism, has issued fresh contracts to help clean the city, which has got a lot of bad press for the seemingly unsolvable garbage crisis.
The ambit
According to the features of the new SWM tender, a 5 per cent penalty will be imposed on garbage contractors if valid complaints are not redressed. They include non-collection of segregated waste even for a single day from households and commercial establishments, not sweeping the streets, footpaths and pavements, not cleaning roadside drains, not taking the garbage to the set locations, burning of wet and dry waste or plastic, not providing the specified equipment and vehicles for segregation, and not collecting the e-waste or bulk waste generated.
If the penalty amount is equal to or greater than 5 per cent of the monthly contract value for a period of three months or more, then the contract with the contractor can be terminated by forfeiting the performance security.
BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel said the penalty amount will be deducted from the contractors’ bill. He said the terms and conditions of the tender will be in effect from December 1. In addition, tighter monitoring along with online monitoring will help improve the efficiency of the waste segregation system.
Efficiency important
The BBMP has instructed that the door-to-door collection vehicles such as pushcarts and auto tippers, must be used in the appropriate ratio of 25:75, keeping in mind the dimension of the street and its condition so that collection and shifting of the garbage is carried out efficiently.
Wet waste and dry waste must not be mixed at the time of the collection or when being transferred to the segregation points or disposal site as well, according to the tender specifications. Apart from this, waste from bulk generators, vendors and hawkers must be collected after being segregated and must not be allowed to be thrown at untimely hours near the secondary storage points.
Streets and drains
The BBMP has also mandated compulsory sweeping of roads, footpaths, flyovers, subways, clearing of medians, and roadside drains (0.6 m width) and removal of obstacles.
Following this, the waste collected (using pushcart or wheeled bins) from the roads must be segregated into wet, dry and inert waste.
The service providers have also been instructed to collect bulk waste from households at least once in three months. They will also be responsible for clearance of dead stray animals and birds and their transport to disposal in set locations.
