Margao: The Margao Municipal Council (MMC) has decided to postpone the outsourcing of its door-to-door garbage collection as it does not have data on the number of households and commercial establishments in its jurisdiction. It will compile the data first and then begin outsourcing.
The decision was taken at a council meeting on Wednesday, which was attended by social activists. The MMC has also decided to implement a model project of garbage segregation in six wards from Feb 1.
Savio Coutinho, former MMC Chairperson and Shadow Council for Margao (SCM) convenor, welcomed the MMC’s decision to shelve the proposal of outsourcing the garbage collection. He stated that the SCM is happy that the MMC realised the importance of collecting data on households and commercial establishments. He also hoped that the data collection is time-bound.
“With the collection of data, the MMC will not only know the number of various types of units, but will also know how many illegal businesses are operating in the city as well as the un-assessed houses. With the data, the council can build up its revenue base further,” said Coutinho, who was part of the municipal solid waste management cell that had launched the door-to-door garbage collection scheme.
“It has always been our stand that only the loyal “assessed taxpayer” should not be made to spend on the waste management system, but all waste generators should be brought in the net. “Until then, no attempt should be made to include any fee in the tax of the assessed tax payers,” Coutinho told the council.
He also alleged that certain sections of the MMC are unhappy with the compilation of proper data on the types and number of commercial and residential units in the city.
as there is hardly any income from night collection of hotel waste. He added, “Over the last several years, the council has spent crores of rupees, including overtime wages, on this night collection of waste, but hardly derived any income.”
Incidents of Margao-based self-help groups charging twice the amount of money from households for garbage collection were also raised.
