The GHMC standing committee has, during its meeting on Thursday, approved a proposal to be sent to the government, towards handing over the sanitation responsibilities on commercial stretches in the city to private agencies on contract basis.
However, tenders have been called for the proposal already, even before it received stamp of approval from the standing committee and government. As per the proposal, a total of 1,176 km of commercial stretches in 30 circles will be handed over for private sanitation, with an estimated expenditure of ₹215 crore per annum. A provision has been included for raising the cost by five per cent every year, for three years, subjective to the condition that administrative sanction shall be obtained every year. The expenditure will be chargeable to GHMC budget.
Commercial stretches in each zone have been identified by the zonal commissioners. Once the private sanitation begins, all the commercial complexes and shops should have two garbage bins for dry and wet trash. For public use, two bins of 50 to 60 litres capacity should be placed every 100 metres by the contractor. The contract agency should sweep the roads at least once every day, besides ensuring door-to-door collection. The waste thus collected should be transported in a closed container vehicle with partition for wet and dry trash.
Additional number of sweepings and garbage collection on any stretch will be decided based on the need. In order to monitor the waste collection centrally, QR code will be provided for each shop, which the agency should scan every day and upload through an app. Mayor Bonthu Ram Mohan has instructed the officials to ensure that the charges presently being collected by the Swachh Auto Trolley drivers are deposited in the GHMC’s account. Littering of the roads under contract will attract penalty from the Enforcement department. The GHMC sanitation workers presently on these stretches will be transferred to other areas.
The standing committee meeting has also cleared proposal to press into service 650 more Swachh autos on driver-cum-owner to streamline garbage collection. Mr.Ram Mohan has directed the officials to get servicing and body remodelling for the existing Swachh autos. He also asked them to rationalise the existing autos zone wise, to ensure garbage collection even in remote colonies. One more proposal receiving stamp of approval was to deposit ₹5.23 crore with the South Central Railway for construction of a limited height sub-way between Sitaphal Mandi and Arts College stations near Manikeshwari Nagar. The committee has cleared proposals to appoint dependants in place of the deceased outsourcing workers in the Sanitation department, and to replace the old and infirm workers. Besides, it has sanctioned the removal of the workers who have been in absence without leave for over a month.
Two more proposals, respectively for property acquisition to lay 30 metre road between Uppal bus stop and HMDA layout, and for drafting guidelines to hand over management of the central medians and traffic islands to private organisations under the Corporate Social Responsibility.