Contracts awarded but no landfills to dispose garbage

Contracts awarded but no landfills to dispose garbage
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) has revised its garbage management systems and redesigned the health wards which would cost Rs 85.5 crore a year to the civic body.

Despite allegations of irregularities in awarding the contracts, BMP stuck to its commitments to the contractors while it has not set up any facilities for disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW).

Despite a Supreme Court deadline to provide scientific landfills, BMP has not shown the hurry that it did in finalising the costly garbage contracts.

Further, the city has no transfer stations as required for MSW management practices. Transfer stations are used to segregate and reload the garbage collected from the neighbourhoods before the waste goes to the landfill sites.

Interestingly, the contract terms stipulate that the contractor would dispose the waste only in designated places failing which BMP can recover the service charges.

But in the absence of any designated place, the contractor has nowhere to take the waste and the contract itself could become invalid.

BMP officials are not bothered about such vital issues. BMP sources said that the landfill near Mavallipura would be ready in another two months and sites were being identified for transfer stations.

But the civic body would not mind awarding the new health contracts after conducting a symbolic check.

BMP has asked the contractors to parade the resources they would be deploying and walk away with work orders.