To bypass tendering process for works like filling potholes, clearing storm water drains

Mysore/Mysuru: To stop human involvement in civic works including cleaning of drains and other related works and also to increase the efficiency of workers in providing civic amenities to the residents, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC)  is purchasing 447 new vehicles at a cost of Rs. 15 crore.

Till now, to do any civil work, especially rectifying rain damage, the MCC had to depend on contractors and their vehicles and for this, due process is required to be followed by calling tenders. This process would delay the damage-rectifying works like filling of potholes, clearing storm water drains and clearing waste. For each work, the MCC had to call for tenders and depend on the contractors to complete the work.

To bypass all these procedural tangles, the MCC will purchase 447 vehicles on a full-ownership basis. Once purchased, all the vehicles will be at the disposal of the MCC and they can be quickly despatched whenever a work arises instead of waiting till the tenders are finalised. The MCC will only outsource drivers for these vehicles and this way, the dependency on the vehicles owned by the contractors will be reduced drastically.

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) to purchase vehicles at a cost of Rs. 15 crore was approved way back in 2017 by the Centre under the Swachh Bharat Mission as per the proposal submitted by the MCC. As per the proposal, the vehicles are needed for waste disposal, processing and zero waste management process and also to improve UGD systems.

Tenders have now been invited to purchase machines including 126 auto tippers for house-to-house waste collection, 16 tractors and 16 tippers for distribution and segregation, 9 backhoe machines (JCB) to each of the 9 zones, 2 Hitachi machines and 18 compactors. The purchasing process will be completed in another one-and-a-half months.

Purchasing own machines will help the MCC efficiently carry out civic works without depending on vehicles owned by the contractors. This will improve efficiency apart from increasing accountability.

Apart from the purchasing of the new machines, two Executive Engineers of the MCC will be made responsible to ensure that all storm water drains are cleaned before it rains so that water does not overflow on the road. The Executive Engineers can make use of the new machines to clear the drains and this will be a continuous process and will be treated as a routine work. Tenders will not be called for this purpose.

Of the 126 auto tippers, 63 vehicles have already been purchased before Dasara and were made available for garbage collection. The remaining 63 vehicles will come soon, officials said. All the new 447 vehicles will be fitted with GPS tracking and their working site and timings would be monitored at the MCC Control Room.

Till now, hundreds of tonnes of waste collected from the city on a daily basis was being dumped at Sewage Farm at Vidyaranyapuram and this has created a mountain of problems along with already existing legacy waste. Henceforth, waste will be dumped to waste treatment plants at Rayanakere and the one near Kesare.

The MCC is also moving ahead to establish zero waste management units at all the nine zones and process the plastic and e-waste there itself and send for reuse.