Nagpur: Has the city actually started generating less garbage, or has the practice of allegedly adding soil and stones to waste to inflate its weight been curtailed? This question has gained significance after Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) data showed a sharp decline in garbage collected by its two door-to-door waste collection agencies following objections raised by elected representatives.Data shows the combined monthly collection of AG Enviro and BVG India has fallen by nearly 400 metric tonnes, while zone-wise daily collection has also dropped by around 150-200 metric tonnes.AG Enviro, responsible for zones 1 to 5, collected 24,459 metric tonnes in April. The figure fell to 23,812 MT in May, 20,137 MT in June and 21,764 MT in July — a decline of 2,695 MT from April.BVG India, which handles zones 6 to 10, collected 25,646 MT in April, 24,665 MT in May, 23,150 MT in June and 21,869 MT in July. Its collection has thus dropped by 3,777 MT between April and July.The issue of alleged irregularities in door-to-door collection has been raised repeatedly by corporators and elected representatives. Complaints were made that soil, stones and other inert material were allegedly being mixed with garbage to increase its weight and, consequently, the amount payable to the agencies.Central Nagpur MLA Pravin Datke raised the issue in the state assembly during the monsoon session, following which the state govt ordered an inquiry. At the July 28 District Planning Committee meeting, guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule also expressed displeasure over the agencies’ functioning and warned that their contracts could be terminated if performance did not improve.
