Patna. Jan. 23: Patna Municipal Corporation’s (PMC’s) plan to engage a private agency for garbage disposal in 62 wards of the city has hit a rough patch.
Taking cognisance of an intervening application filed by A2Z Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, which used to carry out sanitation work in select parts of the city, the high court has slapped a notice on the PMC, which the civic body received on Saturday.
A2Z Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd had approached the court, challenging the civic body’s proposal to engage some other firms for the work despite the company’s agreement with PMC for cleaning waste in the city. A2Z Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd is at loggerheads over payment with PMC.
The high court has asked the PMC mayor, commissioner and the urban development department principal secretary to file a reply on February 2, when the case comes up for the next hearing.
Officials in the civic body said the new contract would be given for areas not assigned to A2Z Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. A counsel of the firm, however, said if PMC went ahead with its proposal, it would amount to contempt of court.
Mayor Afzal Imam said the civic body has decided to outsource the garbage disposal work of 62 wards to a private company because the corporation did not have resources to cart trash from the entire corporation area. “At the PMC board meeting on January 4, the proposal was passed to float tenders through Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo). Earlier, the empowered standing committee of the civic body had given its nod to the plan,” he said.
Slum facelift plan
Support Programme for Urban Reforms, a joint body formed by the state government and Department for International Development (DFID), UK, would soon take up the work for the facelift of two major slums in Patna on a pilot basis.
The state urban development department has asked Support Programme for Urban Reforms to prepare a detailed plan for the work. The state government would provide the funds after an estimation. A decision to this effect was taken during a meeting called by the urban development department to discuss the implementation of Urban Slum Policy-2011 and the community development plan in Bihar in which officials and the people's representatives from various urban local bodies, senior officials of DFID, took part in.
