Civic body to start garbage segregation by month-end

CHANDIGARH: The civic body authority has planned to kick-start source segregation by the end of this month. However, purchasing 390 twin-bin vehicles will play a crucial role in starting the exercise on the ground level. Since the tender has already been received for the purchase of the vehicles, the Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) is doing the technical exercise and negotiating with the companies to purchase these vehicles at reasonable rates.
“The vehicles are the most crucial in starting the source segregation. The tender process is going on and vehicles will be put in place soon,” said Sorabh Arora, joint municipal commissioner.
The NGT has been monitoring the whole exercise. It has not set any new deadline so far and had asked to kick-start the work as soon as possible. The MC had told during a review meeting, a couple of weeks’ back that they will try to start the source segregation in the city from October 31.
An official of the MC revealed that since the sources segregation is already going on in the villages of the city, the authority could not start the same in the city due to rift with the door-to-door garbage collectors. The matter was later settled, however, the project could not pick up pace due to Covid-19 pandemic. Things are under process now.
According to information, the Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) has received a total of eight bids to purchase 390 twin-bin BS-6 vehicles for the city to lift dry and wet garbage separately. Of these eight bidders, key companies like Tata Motors, Mahindra and Isuzu have also applied for the bid. The estimated cost of these vehicles is Rs 35 crore, but the authority is optimistic to get vehicles at lesser amount.