KMC set to ramp up door-to-door garbage collection

Kolkata: In a major boost to door-to-door collection of garbage across the city, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to add to its fleet of pollution-free battery operated vehicles and auto tipper vehicles.

The tricycle vans, most of which were lying defunct, are also being repaired to strengthen the infrastructure of solid waste management in the city.

"Durga Puja- the greatest festival of the Bengalis, is scheduled in the first week of October and so we are gearing up to ensure that the citizens get the best of services when it comes to solid waste management (SWM) in the city. We have already floated tender for having 500 battery operated vehicles to boost our door-to-door garbage collection. We are also procuring 50 new auto tipper vehicles and tender for the same has already been floated," said Debabrata Majumder, Member, Mayor-in-Council (SWM).

The SWM department already has 220 battery operated vehicles and 50 auto tippers involved in non-biodegradable waste collection. "We are also repairing the tricycle vans that have been lying defunct, so that we can put them to use before Durga Puja," Majumder said.

The department has also decided to present dresses to the thika and casual workers involved in garbage disposal. "The samples have already been approved and we are hoping to hand over dresses to the workers before the Puja," a senior official of the SWM department said.

The SWM department is gradually working towards introducing segregation at source phase-wise in all the 144 wards in the city. The civic body has already started segregation at source in 20 wards, including Mayor Firhad Hakim's ward 82 in Chetla.

Each household in these 20 wards has been given two buckets- white and green in colour. Discarded items made of paper, rubber, plastic, glass, wood, iron and different metal products should be kept in the white one, while cooked or uncooked food, fish scales, egg shells, vegetable waste, parts of flowers or fruits should be disposed of in the green one. The green ones are collected on a daily basis, while the white ones are collected every alternate day.