Cuttack: The state government is examining the tender finalised by the civic body for garbage collection and disposal in the city.

The Cuttack Municipal Corporation sought approval of the tender finalised in favour of Metro Waste Handling Private Limited (New Delhi) after it had emerged as the lowest bidder for the contract with payment on basis of per tonnes of garbage collected and disposed of.

The government is expected to give approval to the tender finalised in favour of the New Delhi-based company for payment at the rate of Rs 5,700 per tonne. The per day garbage disposal had been estimated at 200 tonnes, taking the total cost of garbage collection and disposal to around Rs 208 crore over a period of five years.

Sources said the government had been taking time and seeking more details as approval to the tender finalised by the corporation involved heavy over-budget expenditure of nearly Rs 60 crore for collection and disposal of garbage from the city.

The civic body had initially drawn up an estimated budget of Rs 147.26 crore for five years calculated at Rs 4,035 per tonne. Municipal commissioner Bikash Ranjan Mohapatra told The Telegraph: "We have submitted all details and answers to queries sought by the urban and housing development department following submission for giving approval to the tender finalised in favour of Metro Waste Handling Private Limited."

"But for giving approval, the department seems to be making some comparative analysis on garbage collection and disposal expenditure with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation," he said.

The department officials said the details of expenditure had also been sought from the civic bodies in Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela.

Earlier, one of the bidders - Jagruti Welfare Organisation (Bhubaneswar) - had challenged the civic body's decision disqualifying it in the technical bid stage.

Chairman of the corporation's standing committee for sanitation and health Ranjan Biswal said: "The project envisages a crucial set of reforms to streamline garbage collection and disposal in the city that include GPRS tracking, biometric attendance, mechanised sweeping and a new set of regulations for better segregation and waste disposal."

Group clash

A group clash broke out between residents of Pithapur Nuasahi and Jhola Sahi over the installation of lighting for Id-ul Fitr on Friday. Sources said the groups hurled stones and glass bottles at each other. Police deployed three platoons to control the situation.