Al Amin :
The household waste collectors appointed by the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) collect over Tk 300 crore annually from the area but the city corporation gets only Tk 9 crore.
The authority of the city corporation is somehow unaware, although the rest of the money is going to the contractor’s pockets, the city dwellers alleged.
They also alleged that garbage collection has become doubled after getting tender and if anybody does not pay bill timely, the contractors stop garbage collection from his house. Concerned circle said the city corporation is giving them the chance to plunder the money.
Saiful Islam and his wife collect household waste in Dania, a densely populated area of the DSCC. They normally take Tk 100 from every flat but the bill becomes double, if they are asked to collect waste by climbing stairs.
Their monthly salary is Tk 11000. But they earn over Tk70,000. Nobody can protest the additional charge fearing stopping garbage collection. The people are reported by become hostages by the contractor concerned.
Contractors of each ward pay Tk 1.2 million to the city corporation annually and thus the DSCC earns Tk 9 crore annually from the waste collection operation.
Population of the city corporation is around 1.20 crore. On an average, if there are five members in a family, about 24 lakh families are paying the garbage bill and every family pays Tk 100 and thus the monthly earning is likely to be 24 crore and annually Tk 288 crore.
Besides, the garbage bill of several thousand restaurants and shops will be added.
The city dwellers also raised question that the paying of high garbage bill is illogical as they are already paying holding tax.
The DSCC said it takes 2 percent tax for waste management at Secondary Transfer Stations (STS) and to collect waste from the houses by appointing contractors.
Urban Planner Iqbal Habib, however, said the waste management though the contractors is illogical and has created chance to a section of people by doing waste trade.
The DSCC said that it will arrange open tender for appointing contractors in the coming days.
Registered Primary Service Collection Providers (PCSP) will be appointed for collecting domestic waste from each of the wards. The service provider of each ward will contribute to earning revenue of Tk 0.1 million, said the waste management official.
DSCC public relations officer Abu Nasher said the incumbent mayor has decided that the waste collector can charge a flat owner at best Tk 100 and if they charge more, their registration will be revoked.
Waste segregation on open spaces and roads before transferring to landfills used to pollute environment, but under the new system collectors cannot segregate it on open spaces before transferring to landfills, the city corporation officials said.
The city corporation has only 24 Secondary Transfer Stations (STS) and decided to set up STS in all 75 wards.
DSCC officials said earlier the city corporation could not earn a single penny from the domestic waste collection sector as local political musclemen controlled the waste management system of the city corporation.
They earned huge money and would hike the charge for domestic waste collection as per their whim.
Asked, the chief waste management officer of the DSCC said according to the new system, primary waste collectors will work directly under the mayor. So there has no chance of anomalies.
Earlier, the service providers would get permission from the city corporation but their activities were not supervised properly. This time they will come under regulation, he added.
