From instances in the past where an executive and a contractor were arrested for paying a bribe of Rs 1 lakh for clearing the bills to the cases where a sanitary inspector was booked for providing attendance to workers, money changed hands at almost every step that proceeded the lifting of garbage from households or from the street side to its disposal at the dumping yard.
But the exact scales of the business came through this time when the controversial video went viral of JMC-Greater mayor’s husband Raja Ram Gurjar being offered a kickback of Rs 20 crore for clearing backlog payment of Rs 290 crore due to BVG, the firm entrusted with lifting of the garbage.
An official at the corporation said, in December 2016, the state government appointed the Pune-based firm for door-to-door garbage collection after dividing the city into three divisions. As per the tender document, the company had to collect 1,340 metric tonne and JMC fixed to pay Rs 1,650 per metric tonne in one division and Rs 1,670 in remaining two divisions. The initial billing of the firm was approximately 70 lakh per month.
As the city’s population rose, the company also hiked it bill claiming increase in garbage. At present, the firm is charging Rs 1,792 metric tonne as per wholesale price index, 2018.
It is believed the city’s population is approximately 37 lakh at present. As per municipal solid waste (management and handling) Rules 2016, one person produces 450 gram of garbage. In the current scenario, the firm comes up with Rs 29 lakh bill per day, which compounds to approximately Rs 9 crore every month and approximately 100 crore in a year.
A member of sanitation committee, who wished not to be named said, “The garbage is lifted only on papers. The firm claims approximately 1500 metric tonne is lifted from the city, but there is no transparency. The firm lifts less garbage and produces inflated bills in connivance with municipal corporation staff. The amount of profit in the business can be gauged that company is working on approximately 50% payment since starting.”
After the appointment, the awarded firm had to put in its resources including machinery and manpower to lift the garbage in the city. Though company representatives claim that for collection work it has deployed 540 hoopers , 82 tractors and trolleys and 14 refuse contractors, vendors associated with firm said it had no resources of its own and saving the cost after outsourcing the work.
A firm owner to whom BVG firm sublet the work in 2017 said, “I was associated with the firm since December 2016. However, the garbage work started on May 17. The company, since the beginning, is acting as a middle agent and subletting work on reduced costs to local vendors. There were more than eight vendors who deployed their garbage collection vehicles. They were paid between Rs 900-1,050 per metric tonne. The company without investing much is earning an approximately profit of approximately 12-15 lakh per day.”
The firm also allegedly segregating the garbage at transfer stations and selling it to garbage collectors. “There are at-least 12 yards in the city. The firm earns Rs 15,000 to 20,000 from each dumping yard after selling plastic, rubber and other garbage items. Ideally, it should be taken to JMC’s plant in Sewapura for recycling.”
Refuting the allegations, Omkar Sapre, head-Jaipur, BVG India said, “ Our company maintains transparency. It is the JMC officials who are shying away from an independent audit. To carry out the audit of garbage collection occurred in 2019, the officials sent revised guidelines in 2021. Moreover, the JMC should deploy its resources to stop lifting of garbage from transfer stations.”
