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Swachcha Bharat campaign in the dumps as BMC fails to provide enough bins

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Even as the Centre launches its 'Swachcha Bharat Abhiyan' on Thursday to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Mumbaikars have reasons to worry. The city is short of 15,000 community dust bins to manage garbage collection at public places, so where does one dump the waste?

The corporation's solid waste management (SWM) department moved a proposal to purchase bins of 240-litre capacity each on Wednesday. However, it could not be approved given the code of conduct in force in view of October 15 assembly poll election.

The BMC plans to purchase Dumpobin Bharat-made bins from Ms Time Technoplast Company at a cost of Rs .87 crore (each at a price of Rs2,585) to be placed across 24 wards as per requirement. Of them, 10,500 dustbins will be provided to corporators as per the demand in their wards, while the remaining bins will be provided to labourers in the SWM department.

Opposition leaders in the BMC attribute this crisis to poor planning on part of the municipal administration. "It could have anticipated enforcement of code of conduct and accordingly, moved the proposal before members of standing committee in advance. On one hand, the government, headed by the BJP, is set to make people take oath yet, the corporation, which is under the party, doesn't make available garbage collection facility," Devendra Amberkar, opposition leader and Congress corporator from Andheri, said.

Amberkar also alleged the Centre of indulging in populist activism on the face of election. "They know people will like this sort of a campaign. Hence, the BJP-led Centre is launching the drive in the middle of code of conduct for state election," he alleged.

Dilip Patel, BJP's former group leader and party corporator from Juhu, refuted the allegations. "We too feel the administration could have worked on the proposal earlier and got it approved in advance. But, the allegation that it has been announced in view of state polls is untrue. Six months back, when a Shiv Sena-BJP delegation had met Narendra Modi, who was then the Gujarat CM, he had revealed the plan for Gujarat. After becoming the Prime Minister, he has decided to implement the proposal across the country," Patel claimed.

What is the current scene?
The city generates around 10,000 metric tonne refuse. Of this, 7,500 metric tonnes is municipal waste, while the remaining is construction debris. As of now, the BMC has nearly 6,000 garbage bins installed at 3,600 collection points. The corporation collects refuse using around 1100 vehicles and dumps it at three yards at Deonar (4,000 MT), Kanjurmarg (2,000 MT) and Mulund (1,500 MT).

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