Garbage bins of A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited at Ashok Rajpath that might be withdrawn. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Feb. 1: The civic body has decided to pump in Rs 30 lakh to buy garbage bins and place them along the main roads in the state capital after A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited removed its trash bins from some locations in the city.

Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) assigned the private firm the job to provide sanitation services in select parts of the city. But the relationship between the two soured over payment.

To ensure the city roads remain clean after A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited withdrew its trash bins, the civic body has started the process of buying its own waste bins for the main roads in the city.

PMC commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pal said: “Yesterday, A2Z removed about 150 trash bins from the Bailey Road and the Boring Road areas. As people will now throw waste on the streets, we immediately need to make alternative arrangements. We will buy a large number of trash bins and place them along several major streets of the city.”

Pal said around Rs 30 lakh would be spent on buying the bins.

Sources hinted that the private firm’s move of removing its garbage bins from Bailey Road and Boring Road could be aimed at disrupting the civic body’s efforts to clean the city following Patna High Court’s order late last year.

A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited officials could not be reached for their comment.

Apart from Bailey Road and Boring Road, the company worked on seven roads of the state capital — Ashok Rajpath, Exhibition Road, Frazer Road, Boring Canal Road, Beer Chand Patel Path, Old Bypass Road and Hardinge Road. Garbage bins kept by the company in these areas might also be removed soon.

After the private firm withdrew its services last July, the corporation has been carrying out garbage disposal work in the city on its own.

A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited started its work in nine wards and on nine major streets of the city in 2010. It was decided that the sanitation work for the entire city would be awarded to the company at a later stage.

However, the agreement between two parties went awry on the matter of payment and breach of contract. Accusing the private firm of over billing and violating the terms of the contract, the PMC refused to pay a single penny to the company.

Matters turned worse when A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited withdrew its services on July 21 last year when the PMC raised questions over its performance and bills worth Rs 7.6 crore. The matter is at present sub judice.

A vigilance case was also lodged later against A2Z on charges of breach of contract and over billing.

Matters took a new turn when the civic body decided to hand over the sanitation works in 62 wards to a new firm. A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited challenged the decision in Patna High Court. The company claimed that the civic body could not do so, as its agreement with the PMC was still valid.

The court has served notices to the PMC commissioner and urban development department secretary demanding how the civic body handed over sanitation work of 62 wards to a new agency ignoring the agreement with A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited. The case will come up for hearing in the second week of February.