To improve door-to-door garbage collection, the Municipal Corporation is planning to procure 75 Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) at a cost of Rs. 5.40 crore and four compactor vehicles at a cost of Rs. 1.98 crores.
Salem Corporation is spread over an area of 91.34 Sq.km. and divided into four zones: Kondalampatti, Ammapet, Suramangalam, and Hastampatti, and has 60 wards. According to corporation data, Salem Corporation has a population of 9,66,191 and has 2.38 lakh houses, 25,457 commercial buildings, eight daily markets, two bus stands, a railway division and a government hospital. Every day one lakh people from other districts come to Salem district for various works. 550 tonnes of solid waste is generated daily by the Salem Corporation.
The solid waste is segregated and the wet waste is sent to micro composting centers to make organic manure, and the remaining waste is dumped in Chettichwadi. During the period 2017-2020, Salem Corporation procured 179 battery operated vehicles for solid waste management. But now these vehicles have been dumped at different places. Due to the reduction in the number of vehicles carrying garbage, the garbage collection has been heavy on the corporation.
Keeping this in mind, the Salem Corporation decided to buy new vehicles for garbage collection. For primary collection, the corporation has 141 LCVs. For replacement of 179 battery operated vehicles, the Corporation plans to procure 58 new LCVs and in addition the Corporation plans to procure 17 LVCs (total 75 LVCs). The corporation also decided to replace four compactor vehicles which were purchased ten years back and are now unable to be used at a cost of Rs. 1.98 crores.
Corporation commissioner T. Kristuraj said that our primary goal is to collect waste from every household and it should be segregated into degradable and non-degradable on the spot. For this purpose, we have decided to procure 1,000 HDPE cans. Each ward will get around four LCVs. We were able to buy one LVC for 1,200 houses. Based on the availability of funds, we will buy more vehicles in future, said Mr. Kristuraj.