Startup awaits nod from MCC to start waste mgmt

Mangaluru: A city-based startup with sufficient manpower and vehicles, is yet to get a nod from the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), to commence door-to-door waste collection and management, in Mangaladevi ward of the city corporation.
Mangala Resources Management Private Limited (MRMPL), a startup associated with the Mangaluru Ramakrishna Math, has been waiting for approval to manage waste in the ward. The startup has already procured vehicles, hired manpower, and completed surveys.
Dilraj Alva, managing director of MRMPL, said, “We have not received any official approval from the MCC. Currently, the waste collection and transportation in the city is being taken up by the Antony Waste Handling Cell Private Limited (AWHCPL). Recently, we met MCC authorities, and discussed the modalities of taking up waste management in Mangaladevi ward. We have completed one round of survey, through door-to-door visits. We have plans to utilise five electric vehicles, and another heavy diesel vehicle to collect and transport waste from the ward. We will also appoint 10 workers, and our volunteers will take up waste management.”
Recently, MRMPL has started waste management in KS Hegde Medical College and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), he said.
The contract of AWHCPL for seven years, to collect and transport waste from 60 wards of the city, ended in January this year. Later, the city corporation extended the contract of AWHCPL for one more year, or till a new contract was awarded. The startup, which has popularised the Swachh Mangaluru concept under the guidance of Swami Ekagamyananda of Ramakrishna Math, also submitted a detailed project report (DPR) for solid waste management, in all the 60 wards of the MCC, in December last year. They had offered to carry out door-to-door waste collection in all the 60 wards of MCC, and also manage the waste scientifically in their cost-effective DPR. The city corporation has decided to hand over Mangaladevi ward to the startup on a pilot basis.
Mayor Premanand Shetty said that the city corporation is yet to complete the process of handing over Mangaladevi ward for waste management to the startup.
“There are many technical issues regarding the handing over of one ward to the startup. The city corporation has to finalise the rate, and also has to obtain consent from the AWHCPL, to separate one ward. We will clear all hurdles soon,” he said.