Continuing with its door-to-door waste collection initiative through the Swachh cooperative, an organization of waste pickers, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has proposed to extend the service for five more years at a cost of Rs 5 crore for the first year. A fee of Rs 80 per month would be charged for each house and Rs 160 for each commercial property.
Door-to-door waste collection through Swachh cooperative was started in 2007 and the organization of the waste pickers were given monthly charges by the civic body for each property. The initiative had received praise from the Union and state governments.
“The agreement of PMC with Swachh cooperative is coming to an end and hence the civic administration has proposed to extend it by five years. It has considered Rs 80 per month per house for the service while Rs 60 would be charged from every slum and Rs 160 from each commercial property,” municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar said when the proposal was tabled before the standing committee.
The Swachh cooperative started with 2,000 waste pickers and covered most of the city. The waste pickers collected the segregated waste from the doorstep and helped in disposing of the waste scientifically. The dry waste is segregated further and part of it is carried by waste pickers for recycling and the remaining is given to the civic waste collecting system for processing. The wet waste is processed at vermicomposting facilities or sent to large processing plants.
According to the proposal, the agreement would come into existence from November this year. The Swachh cooperative is allowed to incur the monthly expenditure from the property owners with Rs 80 per month per residential property, Rs 60 per month per house in slums and thereafter 5 per cent increase every year. The same will be Rs 160 per month per commercial property and 10 percent increase every year thereafter. “The agreement will be cancelled by the PMC if the work is unsatisfactory,” it said.
