Is MMC waste scheme being sabotaged?

TEAM HERALD

MARGAO: Have vested political interests begun to override the interests of the Margao Municipality in respect of the door-to-door waste collection exercise?

This question is doing the rounds in the Margao civic body with the manpower and machinery (hired trucks) grossly underutilised for reasons best known to the city fathers.

Take the case of the hired trucks. Despite a fleet of trucks and compactors at its disposal, the Margao civic body preferred to hire another 4-5 trucks for the door-to-door waste collection programme. Inquiries have now revealed that these hired trucks are not utilised to their optimum level. There is a galore of instances where these trucks have collected and unloaded waste at the Sonsodo treatment plant less than one ton per trip, raising questions over the need to hire these additional trucks to carry out the work. That trucks were underutilised became evident when they were put on the weighing bridge at the Sonsodo plant site. Sources said the MMC solid waste management cell has briefed the Director of Municipal Administration Elvis Gomes on the issue.

The situation is no different as far as manpower is concerned. Thanks to the interference by some city fathers, the manpower is not being put to optimum use. While the GSUDA consultant Gaurav Poklke has set 250 houses per daily wage worker to cover on a daily basis, some of the workers are believed to be covering less than 100 dwellings a day. Attempts by the Margao solid waste management cell to make each worker cover a minimum of 150 houses a day has been bulldozed by the political class, sources said. 

MMC solid waste management cell member and former chairperson Savio Coutinho said that things are not progressing as per schedule. “The workers are not working as per the targets set by the cell. We have drawn the attention of the civic body and the chief officer and it is now up to them to take a call,” Coutinho added.

Meanwhile, the solid waste management cell has insisted on households to hand over their waste to the workers after segregating the same. “In the last one month, the workers were not insisting on waste segregation as household bin distribution was not done in majority of ther wards. Since more than 85 per cent areas have received bins now, the workers will start insisting on segregating waste at source,” Coutinho added.

With the ongoing door-to-door waste collection drive proving costly to the civic body, with the manpower monthly wage bill working out to a whopping Rs 18 lakh, the Margao Municipal Council may explore the possibility of outsourcing the scheme if the proposal finds favour with the city fathers. In fact, the MMC Solid waste management Cell has received a proposal from a self help group to take up the door-to-door waste collection in two wards with no financial liability to the civic body. Cell member Savio Coutinho said a self help group has approached the cell with an offer to take up the door-to-door waste collection exercise in ward four and nine on an experimental basis. “We are open to allot the work to the SHG. The matter was discussed with MMC Chairperson Gonzaco Rebello, who has promised to place the matter at the council meeting for approval,” Coutinho said.