Door-to-door waste collection starts in 65 wards of Ghaziabad

Under the scheme, each household will be required to pay ₹40 to ₹70 per month as user charge, while commercial establishments will be charged between ₹200 and ₹2,000 per month.

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) on Sunday launched a scheme for door-to-door collection of daily solid waste in 65 residential wards of the city. Officials said they will outsource work in 35 other wards to private agencies.

Ghaziabad MP General (retired) VK Singh and district magistrate Ritu Maheshwari on Sunday flagged off 80 new vehicles purchased by the municipal corporation for door-to-door collection of solid waste from 65 residential wards in Ghaziabad. Private agencies will collect waste from remaining 35 wards. (Sakib Ali/ HT Photos)

To undertake waste collection, the corporation on Sunday flagged off 80 hopper tipper vehicles, which will move around in residential areas and collect solid waste from households. The vehicles have the facility to store the wet and the dry waste before transferring it to the refuse compactor vehicles that will compress the waste by more than 40% of the volume.

The solid waste will later be transferred to the landfill site in a covered condition.

“We expect all wards to be covered under the door-to-door collection scheme by the next month. Officials and staff of the corporation should also ensure that solid waste is collected in time and no dumping is allowed alongside major roads,” said Ritu Maheshwari, district magistrate.

Under the scheme, each household will be required to pay ₹40 to ₹70 per month as user charge, while commercial establishments will be charged between ₹200 and ₹2,000 per month. The charges have duly been defined cleared by the corporation board and published under a gazette notification.

The scheme was already running in four residential wards in the city and has now been expanded to 65 wards.

“Further, we are also going to come up with 10 major solid waste transfer stations in the next three-four months. Six firms have given their presentations to take up the project of ‘waste to energy solid waste management plant’ at Galand. This will also be finalised in the future and solid waste will be converted to electricity,” said CP Singh, municipal commissioner.

“With the waste to energy plant in place, we will be able to complete the full chain of solid waste disposal that requires scientific collection, segregation and scientific disposal, as required under the Solid Waste Management & Handling Rules,” he said.

At present, the city generates nearly 950 metric tonnes of solid waste daily, which is transferred to the corporation’s temporary landfill site at Pratap Vihar near NH-24.

In the absence of a door-to-door collection facility, the solid waste from households is collected by private collectors, who charge residents ₹100-₹150 per month.

“Now, with the help of NGOs, we have roped in these private collectors to work for us and they will not be left out, following the initiation of the new process. A person, each, will be deputed for our collection vehicles and they will be paid by the respective NGOs,” Singh said.