Three wards raise stink over garbage

While municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte may have exercised discretionary powers to extend the garbage collection contracts across the city, it’s a different story in N, S and T wards.

In fact, standing committee members from the three wards, which cover areas between Mulund, Bhandup and Ghatkopar, on Tuesday slammed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) administration for garbage being left uncollected in their area for a week now.

Mulund BJP councillor Manoj Kotak said, “Trouble began after the administration penalised contractor Anthony, who would collect garbage in the three wards, for not providing enough vehicles for the job by not renewing his contract.”

Responding to the situation, the administrators told the members that a new agency had been appointed for garbage-collection in the three suburbs for 45 days. However, the new firm is likely to take some time to settle down and appoint a sub-contractor.

In a bid to soothe the ruffled members, additional municipal commissioner Mohan Adtani said, “The BMC has arranged for JCBs and dumpers to collect waste from the three wards, as nearly 80 compactors for use in refuse-collection are defunct.”

Instructing the corporation to come up with a new waste-collection system, committee chairman Rahul Shewale said the issue would be discussed at a separate meeting of civic officials, mayor and councillors from the affected suburbs.

Shewale said, “We are mulling transporting the refuse from a resident’s home directly to the dumping ground for which a master plan will be framed in a month’s time.”