He said the workers were doing their best despite not having proper bins for waste collection, which was a shame for the authorities. He urged MMC and the government to provide sufficient 240 lts garbage bins and promptly lift the waste collected by the workers.
Coutinho informed that it was normal to see workers going around the city with broken bins or bags to collect waste. The workers faced hardships as the collected waste was not lifted promptly, and in the absence of adequate bins, they had to wait for the existing bins to be emptied before resuming collection.
He also slammed Margao MLA Digambar Kamat for floating tenders for waste collection instead of raising his voice to provide the essential bins, etc. He added, “On the other hand, the council is occupied with their issues and has no time to discuss and streamline the collection system. The Solid Waste Management Cell was dissolved in November 2014 by forming a cell of all 20 councillors. Sadly, the new Cell has not met for the last eight months. How is the system to improve?” said Coutinho.
He continued, “Interesting statements are being made to the media about outsourcing the waste collection, but nobody speaks on who will be paying the contractor around Rs 20-30 lakh every month. On one hand, the self-help groups (SHG) are left like orphans to fend for themselves, on the other the powers in Margao are working overtime to bake a cake – that too with icing – by introducing contract system. MMC should realize that the SHG system had bailed them out from the monthly expenditure of Rs 18 lakhs, which was the workers’ wages. And this unique system is self sustainable with a little support from MMC.”
Coutinho also rubbished claims that a single responsible person was essential to manage the waste collection of the entire city. He said a single contractor could also hold the city for ransom.
He further said, “Our leaders are talking about lack of control over the SHGs with respect to regular collection. I would like to know what sort of guarantee they can give to tax payers that waste will be collected regularly after garbage tax is collected in ‘advance’ every April. In the present system, the waste collector is compelled to meet the residents, and if they are not regular, the residents have a choice to air their grievances.”
“We have supported the Dosti Self Help Group (DSHG) by providing them a pickup rickshaw in which the broken and damaged 240 lts bins are mounted and waste collection is undertaken. However, this same facility cannot be enjoyed by SHGs in other areas. As such, proper waste collection will be difficult for them, and in the bargain, the public tends to blame these poor workers without taking into account the lack of support from MMC,” said Coutinho.
