Garbage collection got a lot cleaner in Ward 2 of the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) with Bhorer Barta, a covered toto van designed by Rajat Sarkar, the local councillor, doing the rounds of Naskarpara Road, Krishna Taran Lane, Dayaram Naskar Lane and part of Guha Road twice every day.

As driver Gorachand Kanrar takes the customised toto - plastered with messages of Clean Howrah, Green Howrah - around the ward, local residents are alerted by the sound of the siren or Rabindrasangeet that plays from the van and they come out with their garbage bags that are dumped in the vehicle. Bhorer Barta replaces the hand-drawn cart which often leaves a trail of garbage on the road.

"I start at 6 in the morning and it takes me two-and-a-half hours to go around the ward. I go around again in the evening, around 6pm," Kanrar said.

The garbage that is collected is disposed of in the vat on Naskarpara Road near Malipanchghora police station. A hydraulic system lifts the container so that the garbage slides into the vat. The human interference is reduced to a minimum.

"Bhorer Barta started on June 5, World Environment Day, last year. It can hold 100kg of garbage at a time," said councillor Sarkar, whose idea it was to replace handcarts with a toto. "Most of the garbage collected in handcarts is strewn on the road before reaching the vat," said Aparna Karu, a resident of Dayaram Naskar Lane.

Municipal commissioner Nilanjan Chattopadhyay said that more totos will replace the hand carts in the added areas of wards 45 to 50.