AS Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BS-WML) gears up to invite ten-ders for the management of Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCC) in Bengaluru, rag pick-ers and Self Help Groups (SHGs) have sought priority in the bidding process. They say they cannot compete with con tractors in bidding, so they should have some reservation.
Bengaluru had 198 DWCCs, tallying with the 198 wards in while Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. Of these, some were closed down for multiple reasons, and the city has around 120 DWCCs for which BSWML is inviting tenders. Co-founder of Hasiru Dala Nalini Shekar, who has been working with waste pickers and SHGs and hand-holding them until they can work independently, said, “Bengaluru got its first DWCC in 2011, and slowly, the numbers added up tenders for the management of DWCCs, we have requested them to give priority to rag pickers and SHGs.” Rag pickers have the first right on dry waste and there are hundreds of families depending on DWCCs, said Nalini.
Satinder Duggal
