Cuttack, Dec. 30: The civic body here will shortly install global positioning system (GPS) devices on all garbage collection vehicles to monitor waste disposal.

The Cuttack Municipal Corporation has recently received a number of complaints from residents across all wards in the city that garbage collection vehicles were not doing their job on a regular basis.

"The corporation has entered into a pact with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for introduction of the GPS-based vehicle-tracking system and mobile application for monitoring vehicle deployment and garbage lifting," municipal commissioner Gyana Das told The Telegraph today.

All solid waste pick-up vehicles will be monitored and their travel information will be stored in a software recording all data. "The data stored from the device locations will check whether the drivers follow the stipulated route and all the points were covered with 100 per cent waste collect, taken to the transfer station and then to the dumping site. The device will also help us keep tabs on the kilometres covered by the waste collecting vehicles. Unnecessary use of the vehicles and fuel wastage can also be checked this way," Das said.

Another senior civic official said the officers would be able to ensure cleanliness in wards sitting in the office with the technological assistance, while the GPS device would also come in handy in case of vehicle breakdown, or any other problem faced by the drivers.

Though the civic administration has fixed routes for every waste pick-up vehicle in all wards, the waste collection scenario is still far from being satisfactory. Telenga Bazaar resident Pradeep Sahoo said: "If maximum waste collection is achieved, people will not need to dispose of their garbage at any place. Installation of GPS device in the pick-up vans is a positive step to keep Cuttack clean."

Hyderabad-based Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (Reel) has been managing waste disposal in 36 of the city's 59 wards for the past five years. Though the five-year contract between the civic body and Reel had expired in April, the firm was allowed to continue in an interim arrangement on monthly-contract basis.

Das said: "Initially, the GPS device will be installed in around 50 vehicles. These would be tracked from a central control room at Biju Bhavan under the supervision of a deputy commissioner."

"The system would be extended to all the 59 wards after the contract for garbage collection and disposal is awarded to a new private company as part of implementation of its Solid Waste Management Project, 2016," he said.

The corporation also plans to reorganise sanitation management by inclusion of penalty provisions for violations. "Penalty provisions have been included to ensure that the firm, which gets the contract, does not work sloppily," said head of the civic body's standing committee on licence and appeal Bikash Ranjan Behera.