With Diwali just around the corner, garbage begins piling up across the city, and not just at street corners and garbage bins. Senior corporators blamed the civic body for reducing garbage only on paper, while also cutting down the number of transport vehicles.
Earlier in 2018, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) appointed new contractors to pick up garbage. But the M-East, M-West (Chembur, Govandi, Mankhurd) and F-North (Wadala, Sewri) areas faced the issue of garbage piling up. Vehicles didn’t visit some parts. “Since November 1, garbage has been piling up in M-East and M-West. The BMC has reduced the number of transport vehicles by 20 per cent, and all wards are affected. This is a Diwali gift for Mumbai, said Rais Sheikh, Samajwadi Party leader in the BMC.
“Waste generation was up to 9,000 metric tonnes between 2012 and 2017. But in 2018, the garbage quantity reduced to 7,200 metric tonnes, so we hired fewer vehicles and new contractors,” said Vishwas Shankarvar, chief of the BMC’s solid waste management department, adding, “The new contracts started only on November 1, so in some parts there was a problem. It will take a few days to rearrange the routes accordingly. We will provide more vehicles to the wards which generate more garbage.”
The related contractor was unwilling to work due to high diesel prices. “We can’t run so many vehicles as diesel prices increased in the last three months by 20 per cent. The fluctuation in fuel prices mean we can’t take money back if the prices reduce. Contractors have to think about these issues before signing a contract,” a BMC offiical said.
