Garbage litters Bariatu Basti in Ranchi on Monday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Clean streets and garbage-free roadsides continue to be a distant dream for Ranchi as the 4.5 lakh dustbins ordered by A2Z Waste Management Pvt. Ltd, for free distribution among households, are yet to be delivered by the manufacturers.

A2Z had placed orders for the plastic dustbins with a Faridabad-based company, Nilkamal, nearly a month ago. However, unable to cope with the massive volume of the order, the manufacturers have not been able to deliver as yet.

“The manufacturer is taking time as the order is huge. That is the only reason for the delay in supply and eventual distribution,” said Arun Kumar, general manager of A2Z Waste Management Pvt. Ltd.

 

A2Z is responsible for the day-to-day cleaning of the city on behalf of Ranchi Municipal Corporation. The civic body early last year had entered into an agreement with A2Z by which the latter was to take care of solid waste management of the state capital for 30 years.

The two entities collectively decided to procure 4.5 lakh plastic dustbins and distribute them among households which did not use them and instead littered public roads with garbage. The civic body was supposed to distribute the dustbins among needy households for free during the cleanliness week taken up from January 19 to 25.

Though overall cleanliness of the city did not improve initially after A2Z Waste Management took over the task of solid waste management, over the last few weeks, things have become better. A2Z has placed big dustbins at strategic locations to allow residents to throw garbage. However, old habits die hard, and many residents have continued to dump waste on the streets. It is this latter segment that the civic body wants to target to improve overall cleanliness in the city.

Kumar said each of the dustbins would cost the civic body about Rs 70. Households apart, shops and outlets too would be given dustbins to stop them from littering.

“We believe our gesture of distributing dustbins will change bad habits of residents and they will learn to manage solid waste. The dustbins will take two-three weeks to arrive,” said Vinay Kumar Choubey, chief executive officer of Ranchi Municipal Corporation.