Bidhannagar to go vat free with movable waste compactors

Kolkata: The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will gradually deploy one movable compactor in each of its 41 wards for door-to-door waste collection, directly transporting garbage to the dumping site.

At present, waste collected from households is taken to a secondary collection point (vat) before being moved to the dumping ground.

“It is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s vision to have a vat-free city and Bidhannagar is no exception. Once each ward has its own movable compactor, we will map collection points to ensure smooth, scientific waste collection,” said Debraj Chakraborty, Member, Mayor-in-Council (Conservancy), BMC.

On Tuesday, State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim flagged off 19 new BMC vehicles to strengthen waste collection and disposal. These include 12 refuse compactors, four cesspool emptiers, two hydraulic hook ladders and one hydraulic ladder, procured at a total cost of over

Rs 5.36 crore. Hakim said the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is setting up a 500 tonnes-per-day integrated biological waste treatment plant at Patharghata near New Town with a 30-year vision of converting waste to wealth.

The facility will process waste from Kolkata, Bidhannagar, Rajarhat and New Town into CNG to fuel waste transport vehicles, replacing conventional fuel. He also instructed Chakraborty to conduct awareness drives on scientific waste disposal and curb indiscriminate dumping.

BMC Mayor Krishna Chakraborty, Chairman Sabyasachi Dutta and Bidhannagar MLA Sujit Bose were present at the flag-off ceremony.