Collection and transfer of waste in East Janakhpuri, Delhi
Capital of India, Delhi houses a number of major industries, international centers, commercial areas and residential areas. Due to its relevance and importance in the country, it is swamped with huge number of people trying to make a living in the never sleeping city of India. Janakhpuri is neighbourhood in Delhi consisting of 4 wards, east, west, north and south.
A 1780 square feet (approximate) transfer station at Janakhpuri East is supervised by Mr. Praveen Kumar. He is an employee of A to Z, Ecogreen Envirotech Solution Limited (EESL), which has a contract with Municipal Corporation Delhi. The transfer station consists of a compactor which has a capacity to compact 8-10 tones of waste. It has three layers of plates which is used to compact the waste. Around 15 tones of waste is received daily from almost 10,600 houses in the area. Out of this 2 ton of waste is segregated as wet waste which is used to make compost. Right now, the condition of compost collecting bin is not efficient and some upgrading. After 3 months, around 200-300 kg of compost is generated for use. The area has around 336 vehicles in total and each vehicle makes around 4-5 trips in a day. To manage such a huge amount of people and to maintain the policy, a fine of 200 rupees per day is collected after three warnings. After that, if people still pollute, rupees 10,000 per day is collected as fine. After fourth notice, the person who is not complying by the rules is arrested. This is according to what is being reported by the supervisor but the actual rate of fine collection on field is uncertain.
The waste is then taken to Okhla for waste to energy conversion. Around 12 lakh rupees is used per month to manage waste of Janakhpuri East. The problem that is faced by the company as per the information given by Mr, Praveen Kumar is that people are not willing to change their behavior. For them, it is not a big deal to pay fine of 200 rupees. He also said that people have tried to threaten the authorities regarding not paying fine or segregating waste. Big change is needed in the field of waste management in India. Fine collection should be strictly complied and A solution can be collection of fine based on income so that rich people are also affected. Better monitoring and implementation of policies as well as behavioral change and outreach is the need of the hour.
