KOCHI: The city corporation, known for poor financial management, has made yet another mistake by sending all its waste transporting vehicles for servicing at one go. The civic body has 23 tippers, 44 mini trucks and ten compact vehicles for waste carriage of which only six are operating now. The remaining vehicles are in the workshop, and the civic body has hired more than 50 trucks for waste removal putting a huge burden on the already stressed exchequer. It will take nearly a month to get all of them serviced.
"We've purchased the vehicles at the same time and hence they have to be sent for repairing at one go. Six trucks have already been delivered from the workshop. Though hiring of vehicles results in additional burden, any holdup in waste removal will cause dangerous environment and health hazards during the rainy season," said V.K. Minimol, health standing committee chairperson.
However, as per the request of the health committee, the RTO authorities have agreed to sort out the issue in future. If the civic authorities had registered the vehicles in batches, the situation could have been avoided. They hired trucks at a rate of more than Rs 2,500 per day which means the additional expenses will be nearly Rs 45 lakh per month. Meanwhile, the Opposition councillors alleged that the civic body was wasting public money and not taking long-term decisions to improve finances.
