Kolkata Municipal Corporation to buy more e-dumpers for faster garbage collection

KOLKATA: KMC has decided to buy 1,000 battery-operated compact hydraulic dumpers for efficient collection of household garbage from various neighbourhoods.
Though a few of these electric vehicles are used in some wards in south Kolkata, in most other localities, the age-old rickety handcarts with steel wheels, which are difficult to push, are still in use. The civic authorities plan to now deploy electric vehicles across the city with an aim to modernize garbage collection. The project entails a cost of Rs 21 crore.
The proposal to buy the hydraulic dumpers was passed at a mayor-in-council meeting last week with an assurance that necessary funds would be allotted for the procurement of the battery vehicles.

"Unlike with the handcarts, the new vehicles will be able to collect more waste in a short time. Operating 1,000 such vehicles will ensure quick, more efficient cleaning of a large part of the city," said a KMC solid waste management department official.
The use of EVs for garbage collection and transfer it to compactor stations will expedite the process and make it efficient. Conservancy department staff said by the time a handcart collects garbage and transfers it to the compactor station, an EV does three-four rounds, improving the efficiency. Though the new EVs will be used across the city, the focus will be on KMC-added areas, such as Behala, Garden Reach, parts of Jadavpur, Tollygunge and EM Bypass, where there is a shortage of manpower. "We don't have much manpower in several areas, where we are dependent on contractual workers. These EVs will help us clean more areas in less time," said a KMC official.
Of late, there have been complaints from some quarters about families throwing garbage in the bins and vats after the hand carts leave following their morning rounds. Once EVs were used, a conservancy department official said, a second shift could be operated so that garbage accumulating till afternoon could again be cleared. He added that the vehicles would also be operated in dengue hot spots, where garbage were often seen piling up, especially on the premises of locked houses.
"We will do away with bins from residential areas. If that leads to littering, we will use EVs," the civic official said.