Taking a decisive call, the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) on Saturday terminated the solid waste management firm – RMSW Essel Infra that failed miserably to manage the work of door to door garbage collection here in the State Capital.
After receiving the consent of the council members/ward councilors, the civic body took the decision during the RMC Council Meet here on Saturday. The firm is managing the work of solid waste management in the 33 wards of the State Capital while other 20 wards are under the supervision of the Municipal Corporation.
“The Municipal Corporation has served the notice to the company. Soon, the existing arrangements of the company at the 33 wards will be dissolved. On the lines of Indore, the Municipal Corporation will manage the cleanliness work here,” said Mayor Asha Lakra.
Discussing about the plan, the Mayor stated, “Appointment of zonal supervisors is on the cards for looking into the cleanliness work of the 11 zones. Labourers, ward supervisors will be made accountable for the work of the door to door garbage collection at each ward. Roster plan is being prepared. Decision on daily progress report, use of mechanised systems and other measures will be taken soon.”
The Mayor said that in accordance with the Municipal Act, the decision of terminating the company has been taken. “Despite rounds of warning, the company never changed its approach. Regular protest of labourers, irregular garbage collection, delay in initiating new projects including issue of overdue payment has compelled the RMC officials to take the decision. All legal provisions have been taken into the account,” she further added.
Moreover, RMC, which got 21st rank in the Swacchta Survekshan – 2018 failed despondently to retain its position in the recent survey. The ranking has forced the civic body to come up with alternate arrangement. RMC in sanitation survey - 2019 received 46th rank.
As per the RMC officials, irregular door to door garbage collection, laid back approach in creating dumping pits, tedious process in constitution of Mini-Transfer Stations (MTS), no long term plan for discarding garbage, shabby status of collection and transportation, no traces of inception of waste to energy plant has often created hurdle for the state capital to rise the sanitation graph. Most of the wards are left in the total muddle, ever since the company took over the charge there. According to the contract clauses, the company was supposed to take the work of all 53 wards in August 2018.
The company started the work of here on October 2, 2016. For the first time, due to the substandard performance of the company roped in for streamlining the solid waste management setup in Ranchi, it was served the termination letter in October 2017. On the other hand, the company had released a communiqué a month ago stating that due to financial constraints, the firm is finding difficult to take up the proposed projects tabled earlier.
The communiqué released by the company then suggested, “A total of Rs. 8.39 crore is pending with RMC. Vehicle grants – Rs. 6.08 crore, December and January tipping fee – Rs. 1.6 crore, Mini Transfer Station (MTS) – Rs. 71 lakh. Additionally, Rs. 33 crore loss of opportunity have been also incurred as 20 wards are yet to be handed over to the respective firm.” Meanwhile, on Saturday, a representative of Essel Infra on anonymity said, “The company has no idea about the termination.”