Date:10/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/10/stories/2008081057400100.htm

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Tracking system reveals racket in garbage clearance

S. Rajendran

GPS will now reduce the bill for the mahanagara palike

Bangalore: A garbage clearance tracking system, stated to be the first of its kind in the country, had been deployed in Bangalore to collect information on garbage clearance on real-time basis. It has now brought to the fore several novel ways of “fraud” played on the BBMP by some garbage contractors believed to be in collusion with officials of the palike.

The Government has now learnt that all is not proper in garbage clearance in Bangalore owing to the interference of some underworld dons.

Acting on the advice of experts, the BBMP authorities began fitting GPS (Global Positioning System) devices on all trucks deployed by contractors to clear garbage from the city.

The aim was to track the movement of the trucks and the quantum of garbage that they clear on a continuous basis. Each GPS device costs around Rs. 6,000 and the BBMP has been fitting it on to private trucks at its cost. The garbage clearance system is closely tracked from a room in the BBMP headquarters.

Much to the shock of the authorities, while the contractors had claimed that they had deployed 270 trucks, only 200 turned up for the installation of the GPS device, and a number of them were newly registered.

Further, while it was originally believed that 3,500 tonnes of garbage is generated in Bangalore every day, in the first few days after the new system was put in place, only around 1,200 tonnes of garbage was carried to the garbage yards.

Further, the contractors also took a weekend holiday since hardly any garbage was carried to the dumps on Saturdays and Sundays.

Commissioner of the BBMP S. Subramanya has submitted the findings to the Government. Sources in the State Secretariat told The Hindu that the BBMP Commissioner has been fully empowered to take appropriate action against the garbage contractors concerned.

Dr. Subramanya said that garbage clearance was now being closely monitored, and the bills of the contractors would be settled based on the weight of the garbage delivered at the dump yards and the distance covered.

“We are now finalising a foolproof system. The BBMP hitherto spent over Rs. 110 crore a year for garbage clearance and given the nature of the garbage being cleared, the cost should come down. Bangalore will also be cleaner in the near future,” the Commissioner said.

The GPRS system has now brought to light that most of the garbage trucks are never at work and even the garbage clearance at the field level (streets of Bangalore) is shoddy. Some trucks have also been dumping garbage in roadside drains, resulting in choked drains during a downpour.