After zero response, TMC to refloat tenders for slum waste management

THANE: After receiving zero response to the tenders floated by the

Thane Municipal Corporation

(TMC) in July to carry out door-to-door waste collection from over 1.90 lakh slum tenenments, the civic body has now been compelled to refloat the tenders


The solid

waste management

department of the TMC had reached out to several womens’ groups and NGO’s to take up the responsibility of assigning people to collect and segregate dry and wet waste from slum dwellers.

However, despite the two-week deadline given to local agencies, officials said that they did not get a good response. So, they will now have to refloat the tenders.

A civic official said, “The proposal which was discussed in the 2018-19 civic budget attempts to ensure 100% solid waste collection from slum areas, which are not easily accessible by the current waste collection vehicles. We had given the interested parties 13 days—from July 3 to 16— to fill up the forms. After this, an agency was going to be appointed. But we have not received a positive reaction. We are hopeful that till the new deadline, which is November 27, we will receive applications from some more parties as we are planning to reach out to them to spread awareness regarding this particular initiative.”

Before the first set of tenders were floated, the civic officials had conducted a survey in the city and had identified 127 slum settlements in Gandhinagar, Shanti Nagar, Vartak/Shivai Nagar and Railadevi.

The administration has also planned to develop a mobile application through which the appointed agencies will have to provide all the information of the slum dwellers and send regular updates on the application, along with pictures. The two-year appointed contractors will be liable to pay a fine of Rs 200 in case of violation of these norms, said officials.

The proposal attempts to ensure 100% solid waste collection from slum areas. From July 3 to 16, we had given the interested parties 13 days to fill up the forms. After this, an agency was going to be appointed. But we have not received a positive reaction. We are hopeful that till the new deadline, which is November 27, we will receive applications