Garbage heap in front of a bank in Darbhanga. Picture by Mohan Mahato

Darbhanga, Aug. 1: Dirty streets and garbage on the roads of the town could soon be a thing of the past. Gurgaon-based A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited, a private agency, is set to take charge of the sanitation of the town.

While residents can now hope for a cleaner neighbourhood, A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited has a troubled history with Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC). The civic body in the state capital had appointed the private agency to cart away garbage from parts of the state capital. But as PMC failed to clear the dues of the private agency, it suspended its service on July 21. Since then, the roads of the state capital were akin to a wasteland with garbage piled high on street corners. PMC officers also claimed that the bills produced by the private agency were also full of irregularities.

Though A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited signed a draft agreement with Darbhanga Municipal Corporation (DMC) on April 30 this year, the service would start only on August 4. Sources said it had been delayed as DMC procrastinated over finalising the ground where the garbage would be finally dumped.

According to the agreement between DMC and the private agency, the civic body would provide the dumping ground, a building to set up a control room and parking space for the vehicles that would cart garbage.

DMC deputy commissioner Dayashankar Bahadur told The Telegraph: “To begin with, A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited would cart away garbage from 16 wards of the town. It would be assigned more work gradually.”

Darbhanga has 48 wards. Sources said the town would have to pay Rs 889 per metric tonne of garbage carted away by A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited.

The private agency could also be appointed to maintain street lamps, the deputy commissioner said.

Bahadur also said: “The private agency has been assigned a temporary dumping ground, which DMC, too, use to dispose of the garbage. We will have a meeting with mayor Ajay Paswan today to decide on a permanent space.”

Darbhanga would be the third town in the state, after Patna and Biharsharif, where A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited would provide sanitation service. They would be responsible for collection of solid waste, sweeping the streets, cleaning drains, and disposing of garbage, according to Municipal Solid Waste Rule, 2000.

The deputy general manager of A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited, Vikas Kumar Jha, told The Telegraph: “We delayed the initiation of work because of unavailability of dumping ground, which DMC was supposed to provide. On an average, we will transport around 200 tonnes of solid waste from the town. We cannot dump it anywhere, as DMC used to.” He added: “We recycle the garbage at various stages. It is segregated into degradable and non-degradable components. Then, the degradable components are used to make compost fertiliser and sold as Vasundhara and Coromondal fertilisers. Non-degradable components are used to make building material.”

Jha also said: “We also manufacture refuse-derived fuels used to power turbines to generate electricity.”