‘VMC garbage vans missed 616 collection points’

Vadodara: A major row has been sparked regarding door-to-door waste collection after a ruling BJP corporator alleged that garbage collection vehicles were missing several points and were still not being penalized.
The corporator from Waghodiya Road, Ashish Joshi, pointed out that data collected by him had revealed that garbage collection vans had missed 616 points within a span of a month. He even claimed that data for January 14 and January 15 were not available.
According to Joshi, the points have been mapped on the route of vans and the GPS monitoring system reveals if the vehicles have covered these points. “If they are missing points, they should be penalized,” he said.
VMC officials, however, said that the system of monitoring points was developed after the contracts were given. “The contracts have a clause of a fine of Rs 20 per household if someone complains that the van had not come to their home. However, there is no provision for missed points seen on the system,” said the official. He added that if points immediately ahead and after the missed point had been covered, there were reasons to believe that the system may be showing the point as missed due to some technical snag or a minor detour that the vehicle may have taken due to unavoidable reasons. Mayor Keyur Rokadiya pointed out that some suggestions by Joshi like CCTV monitoring of the vehicles at landfill sites have been incorporated to strengthen the system.