MAPUSA
The Mapusa civic body’s proposal to start a project of outsourcing the entire garbage collection in town to a private agency has hit a roadblock and may virtually become a non-starter.
The Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) has raised several technical queries about the plan even as the civic body has been struggling in lifting waste piled up at various open places in town.
The Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) in November last year had resolved to outsource the entire garbage collection work including door-to-door waste collection, sweeping of roads, lifting of garden waste and clearing black spots to a private agency, hoping that it will improve efficiency of waste management.
The council had also decided to hand over its men and machinery to the private agency to handle the door-to-door waste collection and a gamut of other waste-related activities.
Soon after adopting the resolution, the proposal was forwarded to GSUDA in order to obtain a green signal for the project.
While the proposal has got stuck in the GSUDA department for over almost four months, the municipal council has been finding it difficult to cope up with the waste collection in town.
“We have been following up the matter of garbage collection with the GSUDA. The department has raised some technical queries on the proposal submitted by the council. We will clear all the doubts raised by them and expect to get a favourable response soon,” said MMC Chairperson Priya Mishal.
Councillor Shashank Narvekar informed that garbage collection has gone awfully wrong in Mapusa, as at many places garbage has not been lifted for days together.
He said the problem of unavailability of vehicles and labour constraint has put tremendous pressure on the waste collection system further complicating the issue.
“We need to buck up and get the proposal to outsource waste collection passed at the earliest or else the municipal council has to go back to its old formula,” Narvekar said.
As per the proposal, the private agency will be responsible to collect door-to-door segregated waste, garden and e-waste, debris, diapers/pampers and also handle waste of the entire municipal market.
Sweeping of roads, grass cutting and clearing of black spots in all the 20 wards will have to be also handled by the private agency.
Besides, collection of garbage generated at special events such as Shree Bodgeshwar Zatra and Milagres Feast will also be part of the job profile of the same agency.
It was also decided that the civic body will hand over all its trucks, garbage bins and the present contract workers employed by the MMC to the private agency.
