As some areas in the city continue to be under piles of garbage awaiting Kochi Corporation’s waste collecting trucks, about fifteen such vehicles are rusting in a workshop near Padiyathukulam owing to negligence of the authorities concerned.
Mattancherry Councillor Shyamala S Prabhu said that due to unavailability of vehicles, they are now seeking the help of private vehicles to gather waste from the area.
“Most of the vehicles have gone out of use. The vehicles are beyond repair,” she said. Making use of private vehicles has eased their tension, she said.
“For private vehicles, we only need to pay the rent and don’t have to bother about getting the vehicles repaired or getting drivers,” she said.
M Anilkumar, Elmakkara Councillor, said the system itself is defunct and though the Corporation authorities tried to come up with different techniques, lack of expertise and farsightedness have landed the system in trouble.
“Earlier, the Corporation was using dumper placers to collect waste, but this system was put to an abrupt end and later covered lorries were used for collecting and disposing of waste. However, lorries were not properly taken care of,” he said.
Anil Kumar added that steps should be taken to auction the vehicles if they could not be used. “Despite taking steps to resolve the issue, the Corporation is moving ahead with plans to come up with an alternative for waste disposal, which may cost hefty amounts,” he said.
When asked, a Kochi Corporation official said most of the vehicles in the Padiyathukulam workshop have been lying idle for quite some time.
“Those vehicles are to be disposed of. But before this, the officials of the department concerned from Angamaly are supposed to value the vehicles. It is only after that we can move ahead with other procedures. Since the government procedures are complicated, there will be delays,” said T K Ashraff, Chairman, Health Standing Committee, Kochi Corporation.
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