The State government has proposed a paradigm shift in the integrated solid waste management system (ISWMS) in the city, where collection, transportation, and processing of waste will be given to only four firms, who will also set up integrated SWM parks.
This proposal has already drawn the ire of many. While the Opposition has alleged “corruption” in the proposed new set up, the contractors, who are waiting for new tenders to be awarded for years now, have said they would take up a legal fight against the proposed new system.
However, sources in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said no decision was taken on the proposal yet and the State Cabinet is yet to discuss the same. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is chairing a meeting on BBMP matters on Wednesday, where the issue is likely to come up.
Championed by Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar, ISWMS was announced in the 2024-25 State Budget as four mega waste processing parks in four corners of the city on 100-acre land parcels.
The government has now identified these land parcels in Mandur; the existing Terra Firma waste processing unit near Gundlahalli, Doddaballapur; near Bidadi, and Gollahalli along NICE Road.
A report on the proposed ISWMS, prepared by a consultant, indicates that the State government and the BBMP will acquire these land parcels and help companies create waste processing infrastructure in them, sources said.
The companies that bag the tender will have the contract for 30 years and will be authorised to collect user fee from individual houses every month, sources said.
Opposition alleges corruption
City BJP leader N.R. Ramesh has written an open letter to the Chief Minister on the issue on Tuesday urging him to scrap the proposal. In the letter, he has alleged that the consultant’s report inflates costs: the collection and transportation charges of one tonne of waste will go up from the present ₹1,300 to ₹2,343, and the tipping fee from ₹260 to ₹650.
He has also alleged that there were attempts to award the contracts to a blacklisted company. Recently, Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy had alleged that the new system involved kickbacks of ₹15,000 crore, to which Mr. Shivakumar had hit back at him and invited him for a public debate.
Amounts to privatisation
Meanwhile, many have argued that if the companies are to collect user fees from individual houses, this was essentially privatisation of the SWM in the city.
“While waste processing can be centralised, collection and transportation works best only when decentralised. These big four contractors will again sublet collection and transportation to the same existing contractors. The government will exit the space. Citizens will pay the companies. We don’t know what the new parastatal Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd. (BSWML) will be doing,” said V. Ramprasad, a SWM expert and activist.
Garbage contractor Balasubramanyam told The Hindu that the tenders for 89 packages were in the last stages of being awarded and the process has been on for over two years now, and they will not accept junking these tenders and handing over the city’s SWM to just four firms.
“We will challenge it in court,” he said. The contractors had a meeting senior BBMP officials on Tuesday evening.
‘Too ad-hoc’
However, a senior city Minister said that the present system was “too ad-hoc” and the new proposed system could streamline the process and bring in more accountability. “Only a long-term contract will get firms to invest money, source cutting edge technologies,” he said.
Ever since the BBMP was formed, garbage tenders have been issued only twice: in 2007 and 2012. Presently, BSWML is in the final stages of awarding fresh garbage tenders for collection and transportation in 89 packages, which will now be scrapped if the State government goes with the new system.
