MAPUSA
If Calangute panchayat has its way, then the beach village will get a new garbage collection system in the New Year with a private agency monitoring the entire door-to-door waste collection, besides sweeping the prime streets and key parking lots.
The agency will take over the garbage trucks presently used by the panchayat and equip them with a GPS tracking system, which will also allow the consumers to track the movement of the garbage trucks.
The new system involves dividing the village into three zones with each zone having 25 dedicated workers, who will monitor and collect the door-to-door garbage of the households. The wet waste generated by the hotels and the commercial units will be lifted after 11 in the night on a daily basis.
“Our staff will be trained not only to collect waste but also to create awareness among the public on ways of segregation and tackling the growing garbage menace. We give top priority to the welfare of our workers and offer them the best facilities so that they constantly remain motivated to work,” said Amit Lamkane, the manager of Swayambhu Transport, a private company which offers garbage collection service. “There are challenges but we work to resolve the problems. We want Calangute to be an example to other panchayats and civic bodies in the State,” he added.
On Sunday, a team of officials of Swayambhu Transport gave a presentation of the new garbage collection scheme for Calangute to the villagers at an extra-ordinary gram sabha called by the local panchayat for the purpose. The Pune-based company has been tackling waste issues in Pune city and provides service pan India, the officials claimed.
Calangute Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira informed that presently the panchayat had contracted the waste collection work to a private entity which did not yield desired results. “We have been carrying out several Swachh Bharat campaigns but all our attempts to keep the village clean had come to nought. Engaging this company is an attempt to revolutionise the waste collection system,” Sequeira said.
He said apart from the door-to-door waste collection, the agency will clean two main roads every day “ from the Calangute church up to the Bandodkar statue and from Baga to Jambleshwar temple. Sequeira said the agency will also be entrusted with the cleaning of three primary parking lots which is the property of the tourism department.
But all this will come at a price. It will cost the panchayat Rs 52 lakh a month for the entire garbage collection and cleanliness package. At the moment, the panchayat pays Rs 38 lakh per month for garbage collection.
