WHO WILL BIN IT?
Govt gives bins but no hands to collect waste
Door-to-door collection to cost MMC Rs 8.5 crore annually
Normally efficient projects have hands but no tools. The ambitious Margao door-to-door waste collection project has the tools but no hands. The government has agreed to supply bins needed to kick-start the door-to-door waste collection process, but there are huge problems. Who will place the bins and collect the garbage since there are no dedicated daily wage workers?
Guilherme Almeida
gilu@herald-goa.com
Get your workers: The Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) says the Civic body should seek the help of self help groups to implement the project. Or, to engage workers at the ward-level and pay their wages via fees from the households. “This will not make the project feasible,” quipped a City Father.
Wage bill per ward Rs 1500 per day: Secondly, each of the 20 Municipal wards have on an average 500 households spread across the ward. “Assuming that one worker will cover minimum 100 households, each ward may require the services of around five workers. Taking into account the minimum daily wage of Rs 300 per worker, the wage bill in each ward itself may work out to Rs 1500 a day. This will not be economical at all since the revenue from the households will be only Rs 500 a day, with a garbage collection fee of Rs one per day,” the Councillor added.
Will people pay the fee: The City Fathers have expressed doubts over the payment of fees by the households, adding that the project will go haywire if a significant number of households fail to pay the fees.
Meanwhile suspicions have been raised in the Margao municipal corridors over the government’s decision to centralise the distribution of the bins to the Civic body. A councillor remarked that tendering the bins is a Civic right and duty and wondered how the government can take over the powers of the municipalities to tender the procurement of bins.
