Looking at the dustbin outside Reliance Fresh near Ramdev, a visitor from Gujarat asked whether these were any hi-tech kind of dustbins where you place the garbage below the lids and it has some sensors which detect the garbage and auto disposes or burns the garbage. I laughed for a moment but he was logically right in his question. Belagavi being added to the smart city list, he thought the administrators must have come up with something smart.
Jokes apart, this is the condition of almost all the dustbins installed by the City Corporation of Belagavi just a few weeks ago. Though initially you laugh looking at it’s condition, later you realize that it’s your own hard earned money that has been wasted which you paid in terms of tax.
A tender was floated by the City Corporation of Belagavi in August 2018 to install 152 roadside single pole pedestal dustbin of Rs 19,00,000 which makes the cost of each dustbin to be around 12500. A similar tender was floated in January 2018 to install 80 such dustbins with an estimated cost of 10 Lakhs, but not sure what happened to that.
The size or the capacity of the dustbin is questionable as it is very insufficient considering being placed on the main roads in commercial areas. The dustbins filled within hours and started overflowing. The height of the lid was less and the sharp edges of the metal lid could cause injury to your hands and hence people started avoiding it. The size was too small to be noticed. Also, being metal dustbins they were stolen in no time and only the lids were left as a show piece.
The question is who is responsible for wasting the tax payer’s money? Was a study made on the capacity and design before inviting tenders? Were references taken from other cities which were awarded best in cleanliness? Many questions remain unanswered.
A look at other cities:
Mysuru city which was ranked number one in cleanliness uses large PVC dustbins. PVC bins are light weight, easy to empty, low cost and as its resale value is comparatively less compared to metal there are less chances of being stolen. It is said that the authorities questioned some rag pickers and thieves as to what material they would prefer to steal and a study was made.
Surat uses underground bins which prevent the waste from spilling onto the roads, easy to use and easy to empty and no chance of getting stolen.. Refer pics below:
The post Dustbins disappear along with taxpayers money appeared first on All About Belgaum.