The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has refused to withdraw show cause notices issued to 10 private garbage contractors for mixing debris with garbage to increase weight and claim more payment.
Garbage collection contractors have threatened to stop collecting garbage from January 27 unless the BMC withdraws the notices.
Acused of malpractice
Additional Municipal Commissioner Vijay Singhal said, “We shall not submit to their threats and attempts to hold the entire city to ransom. There is no provision to withdraw a show cause notice once it is issued. The contractors who have not done any wrong need not worry. They could argue their case before us. But threatening the BMC is not right, and does not show good intent on their part.”
The Solid Waste Department issued the show cause notices after it caught contractors red-handed mixing debris with collected garbage to inflate invoices. Backed with video evidence, the BMC took criminal action against some of them.
The contractors have also threatened to stop sending their private labourers to accompany garbage collection vans. In their letter to the BMC, the contractors have also complained that the BMC has not renewed their contracts even though the term has expired. They said that they have continued with their task of maintaining hygiene and cleanliness in the city.
‘No inconvenience’
Mr. Singhal said the BMC would ensure that citizens are not inconvenienced due to this disagreement. “Fresh contracts are being submitted for approval to the Standing Committee, and so there will be no gaps in conservancy services,” he said.
The BMC is heavily dependent on private garbage collectors to keep the city clean. It operates only 117 big compactors of its own, and utilises about 313 private big compactors.
