Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
For the past seven years, garbage collection in the city has been handled by Reddy Company from Hyderabad. However, this company’s contract will soon be terminated, and from February 1, 2026, the Western Imaginary Company from Mumbai will take over the responsibility of garbage collection.
The new system will use 400 state-of-the-art ‘ghantagadis’ for door-to-door waste collection. To transport the collected waste to processing centres, there will be 18 large capsule-like modern vehicles. A total of six transfer stations will be set up across the city, three of which are new facilities currently being developed.
Background and selection process
Under the Central Government’s Swachh Bharat Mission, a central team conducts an annual cleanliness survey in the city. Despite efforts, the city has never ranked among the top 10 cleanest cities in the country. Its ranking has fluctuated between 22nd and 29th place among major cities.
This year, as part of the tender conditions, only companies that have worked in top-ten-ranked cities were eligible to participate in the bidding process. Two companies from Gujarat and one from Mumbai took part in the tender. The Western Imaginary Company of Mumbai quoted the lowest bid, and therefore, its proposal was finalised. The administration will soon issue a work order to the company.
Modern system highlights
400 fully enclosed ghantagadis (similar to those used in Indore) will be introduced.
The collected garbage will be taken to the nearest transfer station, where a capsule-type vehicle will automatically load and transport the waste to the processing site.
The municipal corporation will pay the company per collection trip (round).
Each trip must collect at least 600 kg of waste, if the load is less, no payment will be made. Each ghantagadi has a capacity of 800 kg.
Every household will be assigned a QR code, allowing the municipal corporation to track whether the collection vehicle has visited or not.
All ghantagadis will be equipped with a GPS tracking system.
Goal for 2026
The shortlisted company will bear the responsibility of bringing Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar into the top ten cleanest cities in the upcoming national cleanliness survey.