123 Kolkata: Roadside garbage dumps, often spilling over with waste—these are not only an assault on visual and olfactory senses but also the source of infections—will soon become a thing of the past in Salt Lake and Rajarhat-Gopalpur. The BMC has decided to do away with roadside waste dumps and introduce hydraulic compactor-dumpers and hook loaders, which will be stationed at specific points across its 41 wards.
This will be part of BMC's upgrade project of solid waste management; during the budget presentation, the civic body proposed an allocation of Rs 42.4 crore for garbage removal and other allied services. BMC MMiC (waste management) Debraj Chakraborty said the new equipment would be procured with funds from the 15th Finance Commission. "The aim is not to throw the daily generated waste in the roadside dump sites. There will be no more garbage dumps in the BMC area," he said. Explaining the plan, Chakraborty said each of the 41 wards would have two clusters, where dumpers would be placed at strategic points. "We are procuring 25 movable dumpers, which will be stationed at different places. The household waste collected every day will be put in these dumpers instead of being thrown in the roadside dumps for secondary collection. The dumpers will directly transport the waste to the dumping ground," he said.
An official said that earlier, one dumper catered to six to seven wards. "Now, there will be specific times for dumpers to be stationed at different wards. Suppose, a time frame of 10am-3pm will be scheduled. Within that period, dumpers will be stationed at different points at different time slots, say 10am to 11am at one place and then, noon to 1 am at another and so on. This way, all the wards will be covered," the official said. He added dumpers would be stationed outside large housing complexes at specific time slots. "Compactor machines will have separate compartments for dry and wet waste," he said.
BMC mayor Krishna Chakraborty, in her budget speech, had mentioned that various steps were being taken to improve solid waste disposal. "Various measures, including the procurement of dumpers, are being taken up for garbage removal. We are paying special attention to modernise our stackyards," she had said in her speech.