SWaCH appeals to CM for long-term renewal of contract with PMC

SWaCH waste-pickers have appealed to Maharashtra chief minister to fulfil his promise of a long-term renewal of contract with PMC for collecting waste

PUNE SWaCH waste-pickers have appealed to Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde to fulfil his promise of a long-term renewal of the SWaCH-Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) contract for collecting waste in Pune city. With the most recent extension to the SWaCH-PMC contract coming to an end on October 26, SWaCH waste-pickers have been trying to reach CM Shinde for over a month to appeal to him to make good on his promise, and end the vicious cycle of inaction and uncertainty.

SWaCH waste-pickers have appealed to Maharashtra chief minister to fulfil his promise of a long-term renewal of contract with PMC for collecting waste. ((PIC FOR REPRESENTATION))

SWaCH members said, “Private operators sponsored by profit or political interests are allowed to operate freely in various parts of the city, to compete with waste-pickers, with no responsibility for waste dumping, servicing slums, maintaining segregation, quality of work, recycling of waste, or rights of workers being safeguarded.”

“Simple fixes are delayed and ignored as the PMC extends the model by six months to one year at a time, instead of making any long-term investments or commitments. These short-term extensions preclude any possibility of enhancing the model and plugging its gaps, and keep the model stunted until such time – it seems – that the waste picker-driven model may be replaced by private contractors. Compare this with the city’s repeated investment in expensive waste processing technologies, offering 20 to 30 year contracts of staggering value, despite repeated failure of such technologies,” read the SWaCH statement.

SWaCH is globally recognised as a sustainable, inclusive, low-cost and transparent waste management model owned and operated by informal waste-pickers of Pune. The SWaCH model is the result of a 17-year partnership between SWaCH and PMC wherein as many as 3,700 waste-pickers now collect waste from 9.65 lakh citizens’ properties on a direct user fee basis; ensuring near 100% segregation, recycling of over 200 tons per day, and reduction in dumping at landfills by lakhs of tons over the years, thereby saving the PMC over ₹1,000 crores in the last decade. However, the model has been ignored and impoverished for several years now, according to SWaCH workers. Since the Covid lockdown when the waste-pickers served the city non-stop, the model has been subjected to short-term extensions of one to 12 months, the most recent extension ending on October 26. During the Vasundharasaathi Awards in March 2023, CM Shinde had promised long-term renewal of the SWaCH-PMC arrangement to waste-picker, Mangal Jadhav, who received the award for SWaCH.