Door-to-door garbage collection in Patiala: Pvt firm gets six months to improve performance

After the door-to-door garbage collection and segregation project being shelved for four months, the General House of Patiala municipal corporation (MC) has decided

After the door-to-door garbage collection and segregation project being shelved for four months, the General House of Patiala municipal corporation (MC) has decided to revive it.

A Noida-based company, hired for the job, had courted controversy over its poor performance. The Patiala MC had received multiple complaints regarding irregularities and fleecing. (HT PHOTO)

During the General House meeting, on Wednesday, decided to give a six-month period to the Noida-based company, Hari Bhari Recyclable Waste Management Private Limited, which was given the job, to improve its performance in carrying out the project as per the terms of agreement.

In September last year, taking a serious note of the poor performance of the private firm and multiple complaints regarding execution of the much hyped project, the MC councillors had agreed to the proposal of scrapping tenders awarded to the company in 2018.

The project, which was inaugurated with much fanfare by Congress leaders in June last year, had failed to receive the desired response as the Noida-based company could not fully implement the plan.

Patiala mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu said that the project is important as far as cleanliness and hygiene of the Royal City is concerned. “Thus, the civic body has decided to give the company another chance to improve its performance,” he said.

“The civic body has given the company a last chance to clear the anomalies and state in writing that the project will be carried without any irregularities in the coming months,” he added.

The mayor added that moreover, with no other alternatives available, the municipal corporation cannot handover document of termination of contract to the company concerned.

The Noida-based company had courted controversy over its below par performance as the Patiala civic body had received multiple complaints from residents regarding garbage not being collected on daily basis, besides fleecing.

The company had courted controversies due to its “poor planning, mismanagement and fleecing” at six wards (34, 16, 39, 40, 42 and 58), where the door-to-door project was being carried out on trial basis.

Residents of these wards complained that they were being charged ₹100-200 per month arbitrarily, against the stipulated charges of ₹15-50 per month, according to the area of residential unit.

Moreover, instead of covering specific areas under the project in a phased manner, the company had started collecting garbage from random areas in a haphazard manner and without any planning.

Panel to decide on exempting units from water charges

The proposal related to exempting residential units of water charges was also tabled in the meeting. As per the agenda, the MC has proposed that the units constructed in 50 square yards will only be exempted from water charges following implementation of the new water tariff in urban local bodies.

Earlier, the units constructed in 125 square yards are exempted from water supply charges.

“We have constituted a committee to study the pros and cons of the proposal. Moreover, since the matter is directly related to the people of Patiala urban and rural constituencies, we have to discuss the same with MLAs including chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra before coming to any conclusion,” the mayor said.