An ultimatum has been issued to private agencies involved in door-to-door garbage collection to speed up sanitation work, failing which their tenders will be cancelled. The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) decided this after the firms failed to meet the expectations of the civic body.

The urban development and housing department had launched the much-awaited door-to-door garbage collection programme in the New Capital, Bankipore and Kankerbagh circles of the PMC on public-private partnership mode in April.

Two private agencies - Patna-based Nishka Security and Intelligence Services and Delhi-based People's Association for Total Help and Youth Applause (Patheya) - were engaged in the work and were hired for three years.

PMC commissioner Abhishek Singh said: "The PMC has been co-operating with the agencies, right from the lower-grade employees to officers. We have even provided our resources to both the agencies. But we are not satisfied with the work done by the agencies in the past four-and-a-half months."

The agencies have been given three months to pace up work otherwise their tenders will be cancelled, the PMC commissioner said.

The PMC has provided its auto-tippers (auto trolleys) to the agencies for garbage collection. There are 110 auto-tippers with the PMC at present.

As far as Patna City Circle is concerned, fresh tenders will be issued for door-to-door garbage collection, as tenders issued in January found no takers. A PMC official said the reason behind it was the narrow lanes of Patna City, where no agency took interest in.

"Fresh tenders will be issued with some changes in the terms and conditions of the previous one which include dumping of garbage at Biscomaun roundabout near Gandhi Maidan, from where it will be shifted to Ramchak Bairiya, where a waste disposal plant is coming up," he added.

To improve city's sanitation, the PMC has decided to buy machines for drain-siltation from Ahmedabad. The corporation has also nodded to recruit around 200 sanitation workers to cope with the shortage of staff. The corporation has 3,900 sanitation workers.

"We will soon bring a proposal to this effect at the board meeting," commissioner Singh said.

The corporation has also decided to outsource tax collection to agencies. "The proposal was rejected at earlier board meetings but now with the formation of the new board, it has been decided to table it once again," the PMC official said.

He added that the decision was taken after the PMC could manage to collect only Rs 19 crore as taxes this fiscal.

It has also been decided to build toilets for women at 15 locations in Patna. This, too, has been lingering for some time despite a decision to build toilets was taken in the last budget. Sources said the proposal did not move out of paper because sites for the toilets have not been decided yet.

The PMC official said survey reports are being prepared again in this connection.

The other measures to improve sanitation condition in Patna include purchase of 15 earth-digging machines.