Over the past five months, as many as 141 lakh litres of septage waste from houses, flats and institutions in the city, have been brought to the Muttathara sewage treatment plant. A major part of these would have ended up on our water bodies, if the city Corporation had not introduced a licensing system for private vehicles collecting septage in April.
The civic body thought about introducing a licensing system after they noticed rampant illegal collection across the city, with the collected waste being dumped in water bodies in different places. Late last year, a tanker lorry illegally carrying septage waste allegedly knocked down two contingent workers of the city Corporation, who were on point duty to track down illegal waste dumpers, near Ambalathara. The Corporation had during a period of three months caught more than 25 tanker lorries carrying septage waste illegally.
Biggest gain
In April, the Corporation launched a licensing system for private vehicles collecting septage. Sixteen private collection vehicles have registered till now.
“The biggest gain from the Corporation’s view point is certainly the amount of septage waste that we managed to collect in the past five months. All of these used to be dumped elsewhere, in water bodies or near public places. Now, with these GPS-tracked trucks, all of it goes to the treatment plant,” said an official of the health wing of the city Corporation.
Public can log their requests for septage collection through the ‘Smart Trivandrum’ app, which can be downloaded from Google playstore. The user fee can be remitted online. When the vehicle reaches the waste treatment plant with the collected waste, the information will reach the control room in the Corporation through RFID system. A call centre is functioning in the Corporation from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on all days to co-ordinate the activities and to help out those who are not familiar with online booking. (call centre number – 9496434488). The call centre has handled 6,902 calls till Monday, while it had 63 walk-in customers.
Before the Corporation signed up the private vehicle owners too for septage collection, it had only five vehicles of its own. Back then, the waiting time after a resident logs in request for septage collection was anywhere from three weeks to one month. Now, the response time has reduced to one hour. The Corporation has now purchased three more collection vehicles of its own. It has also provided licenses to vehicles owned by some bigger restaurants, on condition that they would use it only to collect and transport waste from their own premises.
As per data from the Corporation, a total of 1,137 requests for septage waste collection have been received from individuals till Monday, while the number is 1,111 for hotels and restaurants, 179 for flats and apartments, 22 for hospitals, 106 for catering services and 29 for hostels.
Every week
“In areas like Kazhakuttam and Attipra, where the sewage network has not yet reached, we have to do serve several collection requests every week. Once the network expands, this number might come down,” said an official.
Published - September 30, 2019 01:07 am IST
