In that classic Malayalam comic caper Aram Plus Aram Kinnaram , the inimitable Jagathy Sreekumar, who plays a workshop owner, is shown lamenting how his dumb workers are ruining his business through absurdities like removing the engine of a car brought in for a flat tyre.
A similar drama seems to be playing out in the Kochi Corporation when it comes to its vehicles. Only here, the workshop owners seem to be the beneficiaries.
Though bought for moving garbage to the waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram, a majority of these vehicles continue to languish in workshops even as the civic body spends lakhs on contract vehicles.
At the last count, 57 of the 103 vehicles owned by the corporation are in disrepair. “Vehicles left at workshops for minor complaints gradually develop more serious issues like engine complaints owing to continuous neglect. There are even vehicles that have been languishing in workshops for up to two years,” said V.P. Chandran, Opposition councillor and member of the health standing committee.
Of the 13 covered compact garbage trucks, eight are under maintenance, while nine of the 24 tippers — of which 21 are covered — and 29 of the 46 mini tippers are similarly off the road, to compensate which the corporation has to bank on contract vehicles.
So, in January alone, of the 1,588 trips transporting plastic waste to the plant, only 193 were operated using corporation’s own vehicles, while 1,395 were by contracted vehicles. Similarly, only 205 of the 903 trips transporting food waste were by corporation vehicles, while contracted vehicles operated the remaining 698 trips.
“One compact garbage truck contains up to 10 tonnes of waste, which means that for carrying the same volume of waste in its absence, the corporation will have to hire at least three tipper lorries, each of which has a carrying capacity of just four tonnes,” said Mr. Chandran.
Considering that around 362 tonnes of waste are being generated within the corporation limits in a day — of which 62% is food waste and the rest non-biodegradable waste — a back-of-the-envelope calculation will throw up the huge expenditure the absence of own vehicles inflicts on the civic body by way of contract vehicles.
