A fleet of electric autorickshaws, tipper autorickshaws and compactors are likely to hit the Kochi roads in a couple of months, giving a sophisticated touch to the waste management process in the city.
The civic authorities of Kochi have submitted a wish list of vehicles to Cochin Smart Mission Limited to augment the collection and transportation of refuse from city roads to the waste management centre at Brahmapuram.
The proposal is to provide 15 electric autorickshaws that can collect and transport waste from each of the 74 divisions. These vehicles will be involved in the door-to-door collection of waste from the divisions. The civic body has also asked for 50 tipper autorickshaws, which can mechanically lift garbage containers from autorickshaws and unload them. As many as 15 compactors, which can lift and press-pack garbage, will also be added to the fleet. The city presently owns 12 such vehicles, said T.K. Ashraf, chairman of the Health Standing Committee of the Kochi Corporation.
Once the proposals are accepted, the vehicles are likely to be delivered by April. The effort is to give a touch of modernity and sophistication to waste management in the city. The vehicles will have a colour code, which will help quickly distinguish them. It’s time for the city to move over to a modern waste management system and the introduction of the vehicles is part of it, he said.
The current line of thought among the civic authorities is to ensure the effective operation and maintenance of these vehicles by introducing a service package for them. The civic body has got the post of a mechanical engineer approved and an engineer recruited to oversee the operation and maintenance of these vehicles, he said.
The compactors, which are being operated in the city, will have to be pulled out of service next year as they would complete 15 years of service by then. None of the carriage autorickshaws that were introduced earlier are in operation. The city administration is in the process of compiling a list of vehicles, he said.
