MC halts tendering process for door-to-door waste collection in Faridabad

The process of allotting the work of collection and disposal of civic waste in the city has come to a halt following instructions from the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) Department to the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF). The civic body had released tenders worth Rs 32.95 crore for the door-to-door waste collection last month.

Though the exact reasons for this move are yet to be revealed officially, sources in the civic administration claim that ongoing dispute between the ULB Department and a firm that had been outsourced the work in 2017 has led to the process being put on hold. As per reports, the company whose contract had been cancelled in February this year has objected to the issuance of tenders till the dispute regarding its contract is settled. The civic department authorities had cancelled the earlier contract citing “poor work” and had decided to float fresh tenders worth Rs 32.95 crore.

According to sources, the new tenders had validity of five years. This has been the first long-term move which has been taken after the cancellation of the previous contract. However, the message of keeping the tendering process on hold was recently received by the officials.

As per the new tenders, the work pertaining to the collection of waste from the households to the transfer stations was likely to begin by the first week of this month. Over 1,000 tonnes of waste is churned out daily within the civic limits. According to the new contract, the MCF was to collect the user charges (fee) from the residents and pay the fee to the contractors engaged for the work of collection and disposal. The civic body has been asked to include the waste collection charges in the house tax or the property tax.

The residents have been paying fee for disposal to private persons or agencies appointed by the MCF. The charges to be realised from the residents are yet to be finalised. It may be recalled that the waste collection work has mainly been given to private persons, who had been disposing it at the transfer stations.  The daily waste is disposed of at various spots, including the two waste processing plants at Pratapgarh and Mujeri villages, and the landfill site of Bandhwari village.

MCF Executive Engineer Padam Bhushan said as the tenders had been put on hold due to certain technical reasons, the work of waste collection was expected to start soon.