Garbage collection hampered across city as labour contracts expire

Garbage collection hampered across city as labour contracts expire

PUNE: Heaps of garbage can be seen throughout the city as labour contracts for collection of garbage has expired. The civic administration too has admitted that the expiry of contracts has led to this problem. 

Sandeep Khardekar, President of Creative Foundation, an NGO, has sent a letter to the Pune municipal commissioner pointing out the problem in the garbage collection system. He said that most labour contracts ended in March and the new District Schedule Rates (DSR) are not in force, even though they were approved on April 1. 

He said, “Due to this, for almost a month, garbage collection and segregation problem is seen in all wards. The severe manpower crunch is resulting in garbage getting piled up in different parts of the city. It has become a regular occurrence. Considering this, the civic administration needs to assure contractors that corporators will release payments to people even if their contract has ended on March 31.”

Speaking to Sakal Times, Suresh Jagtap, Head of PMC’s Solid Waste Management Department, said, “We have instructed all ward offices to continue labour contracts till new DSR rates come into force and new contracts are signed. We will include this clause in upcoming contracts so that this kind of problem does not occur from next year. I have asked ward offices to continue service of contract labourers and we will release their salaries.” 

EFFECT OF DSR ON GARBAGE
DSR (District Scheduled Rates) are rates charged for several types of work, including material rates and labour charges. Every year, DSR are released by the end of March. The contracts are signed accordingly. To avail the benefit of revised rates, it is a practise that contractors stop their work in April till the new rates are applied. So, each year, garbage collection and segregation gets hampered in April.

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