A comprehensive report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on waste collection by civic bodies across the state has brought out some glaring facts, including that as much as 41% of waste remained uncollected in 2021-22.
The report, tabled by the government on Wednesday, is based on CAG’s audit covering the period from 2016-17 to 2021, which was updated in 2022. Though the report was submitted last year, it was only tabled on Wednesday, the concluding day of the budget session.
The CAG’s findings raise concerns over the poor performance in collecting waste management charges and undertaking steps for its improvement.
An important feature of the report is that the data provided by the director of Swachh Maharashtra Mission and the concerned urban local bodies differ for the year 2021-22.
For example, the BMC collects 9,841 tonnes of waste per day (TPD), says the mission director. But the BMC says it collects 6,514 TPD. The same is the case with the treatment of waste, which, according to the director is 4,870 TPD, and the BMC is 5,829 TPD.
CAG has recommended that the government prepare a comprehensive policy for solid waste management, focusing on minimising waste generation. The percentage of uncollected waste in Maharashtra was 41% during 2021-22, while 64% (29 out of 45 ULBs) of the test-checked ULBs did not achieve the service level benchmark of household-level coverage of collection of waste.
“A significant number of ULBs did not distribute various items of personal protection equipment to workers,” the report said. The report pointed out that the state government had issued resolutions and orders for the segregation of waste at source, banning the sale and use of single-use plastic and levying fines for littering. However, the government did not prepare a state policy and strategy for solid waste management as envisaged in the Solid Waste Management Rules (SWM Rules).
The CAG has recommended that the state should ask ULBs to levy user charges on solid waste management services, reviewing the poor performance of the ULBs in collecting the solid waste management charges and steps for its improvement, ensuring that ULBs install weighbridges for weighting of solid waste, directing the ULBs to take proactive steps for the formation of self-help groups of waste pickers and encourage their involvement in solid waste management.
