561 contractors bid for tender to lift wet waste in 166 wards

BENGALURU: In the middle of a raging fight between mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun and BBMP commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad over garbage-disposal modalities, 561 contractors have bid for the tender to dispose of wet waste in 166 of the city’s 198 wards.
Seven wards have seven contractors each bidding for the tender that opened on Tuesday. While the tender has been extended in Gottigere ward, not a single bidder was in the race for DJ Halli ward, represented by former Congress mayor R Sampath Raj.
The tenders were not opened in 30 wards falling under east zone, most of them in Shantinagar assembly constituency, due to a high court stay on the process. Two of these 30 wards, Neelasandra and Shantinagar, did not receive any bid.
Doddabidarakallu, KR Puram, Marathahalli, Attiguppe, Hampinagar, Ganesh Mandir and Jakkasandra wards received the highest number of bids.
In January, the civic agency had invited the tender for door-to-door collection of wet waste, excluding dry waste and the one generated by bulk generators. Some elected representatives had raised concerns over the tenders, forcing the commissioner to set up a tender advisory committee, headed by mayor Gangambike. After two meetings, the mayor demanded the clubbing of all three wastes into one category, but this was opposed by the commissioner and other officials, who cited solid waste management rules.
Gangambike stuck to her stand for a single tender in each ward for all three types of waste — wet, dry and bulk. “If tenders are opened, then I need to hold talks with Bengaluru development minister G Parameshwara and the BBMP commissioner to take further steps. Already, the tender advisory committee has recommended a single tender system. As a mayor, I do not want citizens to suffer by waiting to hand over wet and dry waste to two separate contractors. The system adopted by officials will eat into residents’ time.”