Bhubaneswar, Jan. 20: The municipal corporation has not only initiated the process to have GPS tracking of its waste-carrying vehicles, but also would shortly install a biometric system to record attendance of sanitation workers.

The twin moves are intended to ensure smooth management of solid waste in Bhubaneswar.

According to the plan, all municipal vehicles deployed to carry waste would be installed with the GPS devices.

The new system will enable the civic body officials to track these vehicles in real-time and identify the places where they stop.

CSM Technology will execute the job on behalf of the municipal corporation.

"In the first phase, the executor will install the devices on 60 waste-carrying vehicles. Eventually, all vehicles will have the system. The tracking system will help us monitor the movement of waste in real time," said additional commissioner of the corporation Alok Kar.

The firm will monitor the fleet status through vehicle tracking as well as manage the information system for waste collection and transportation. In case of breakdown of vehicles and to bring transparency in the civic administration, it will use the SMS mechanism.

Earlier, the ministry of urban development had also stressed on the urban local bodies to introduce the system. The ministry had asked the civic body in April last year to ink a pact with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for the project or go ahead with their standalone plan with a selected executor.

"The plan of installing the tracking system in the waste carrying vehicles has been there for quite a long time. We had some problems in the past while preparing the papers for the project, but now we are all set to introduce it. The modalities are in place right now," said a senior civic body official.

In 2015, the corporation had planned to rope in private parties for implementation of the project.

It had then invited proposals and two firms - one from Bhubaneswar and another from Calcutta - had been selected. But due to technical problems, the tender was cancelled and the project stalled.

"I hope the new system will keep a check on the vehicles and the drivers who are negligent in their duty," Bidyadhar Tripathy, an IT engineer.

Bhubaneswar generates around 500 tonnes of solid waste every day. It has more than 350 collection points with about 125 waste-carrying vehicles. One health officer, two sanitary inspectors, 30 supervisors and 1,186 sweepers work to keep the city clean. Besides, the civic body has partnered private sanitary agencies to maintain cleanliness in the city.

The municipal corporation will install biometric attendance system to keep track of sanitation workers. Sources said the workers would have to use their fingerprints to register their attendance. This would record the time when a sanitation worker reports to work.