When the civic body entrusted door-to-door collection of dry trash to waste-pickers in 2017, the goal was to empower this unorganised sector while ensuring that citizens adhered to separating household garbage into wet and dry streams. At the time, several waste-pickers took loans and invested in vehicles. Two years down the line, however, they have discontinued door-to-door collection claiming that the BBMP has failed to pay their bills — in some cases for over a year — pushing them into a debt trap.
Kumuda, a former waste-picker who now runs the Dry Waste Collection Centre (DWCC) in Katriguppe (ward no. 163), took a loan of ₹3 lakh to buy three vehicles in 2017. While she employed two people per vehicle — a driver and a helper — by paying them a salary of ₹25,000, the civic body was expected to pay each vehicle ₹43,000 per month for door-to-door collection of dry waste. “The BBMP did not pay me for 13 months, because of which I had to pay the salaries from my pocket. I now have a debt of ₹6 lakh. I also stopped waste collection a few months ago,” she said.
Several waste-pickers have similar stories of failed promises that have led them into debt traps. Allah Bakash, a waste-picker from ward no. 150, said he had over 10 months of arrears with the BBMP while he had run a debt of ₹8 lakh trying to manage the collection. “I had to pawn my wife’s jewellery,” he said.
Nalini Shekhar of Hasirudala, which runs 33 DWCCs in the city through waste-pickers, said it was a shame that the BBMP has not paid waste-pickers. Lack of funds does not seem to be the problem.
“The Solid Waste Management cell in the head office of the BBMP had released funds for the bills, but they have been stuck in red tape at the zonal offices responsible for clearing these bills,” said Archana Kashyap, an activist with Solid Waste Management Round Table. “In our ward, the files have moved up and down the chain several times, but still payments have not been cleared,” she said.
Many activists fighting on behalf of the waste-packers also allege corruption on the part of the BBMP.
D. Randeep, Special Commissioner, SWM, BBMP, said the head office had already disbursed funds towards payment of these bills. “We will ensure that payments are made soon. There have been some technical administrative issues. But the civic body owes them this money and we will definitely pay them,” he said.
This is not the first time that BBMP finds itself in such a situation. The Hindu had reported on a similar payment problem faced by waste-pickers in March 2018, which was resolved later.