Dhanbad: Coal town arteries are all set to look sparkling in the coming days following the civic body's decision to buy mechanised road sweepers for all the five circles - Jharia, Dhanbad, Sindri, Katras and Chatatand.
Mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal told The Telegraph on Tuesday said while garbage disposal would be carried out by a specialised agency to be selected through a fresh tender worth Rs 76 crore under the solid waste management project, mechanised road sweeping machines would be purchased to keep the arteries and commercial places clean.
He added that Roots Multiclean, an Ernakulam-based dealer of cleaning equipment, is likely to make a presentation before the civic body in a day or two.
The road sweeper purchased by AtoZ Waste Management in 2013 is still lying unused due to a legal dispute between the firm and Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) following the withdrawal of the former from the solid waste management project worth Rs 55 crore in January 2014. Ninety-nine compactors, tractors and rickshaw carts worth Rs 4 crore bought by firm are also gathering dust at Bartand parking lot.
In September 2012, the DMC had selected the Gurgaon-based firm for solid waste management project. Later a legal row between the two over lack of garbage dumping site and DMC imposing fines on A2Z for not lifting the required amount of garbage resulted in A2Z ending their ties with DMC in January 2014.
Sources said, "The civic body plans to buy two kinds of road sweepers, smaller ones worth around Rs 15 lakh each and large ones priced at Rs 31 lakh each. While the bigger ones would be used on the main roads, the smaller ones would be pressed into service on narrow streets. The numbers will be fixed only after the presentation by Roots Multiclean".
On shortage of small tippers, tractors and earth movers for collection and transport of garbage, Agarwal said the selected agency would bring all the equipment as part of the waste management project.
He said the comprehensive project would be executed in several phases at a total cost of around Rs 276 crore. "While the Rs 76-crore tender for first phase would be finalised by month-end, tender for the second for installation of a waste recycling plant would be floated later this year.
He added around 35 acres had already been provided by the Fertilizer Corporation of India to the DMC at Sindri on a lease for 25 years for installation of the waste-to-energy plant for recycling of garbage.
