The Hindu Business Line : Garbage trucks soon with GPS/GIS equipment

THIS is not meant to be a cruel joke on the hapless biker who gets showered with muck from a dirty, smelly garbage truck that happens to overtake him. At least, not in the Capital, where the municipal authorities are planning to make the entire process of moving garbage from homes to land-fill sites more scientific and systematic.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is set to induct swanky new garbage trucks that will not only be closed, but will also sport Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global Information System (GIS) equipment.

But what have GPS and GIS technologies got to do with the dirty business of garbage collection and disposal?

"We are adopting a modern solid waste management system. Simultaneously, we are planning part privatisation of the garbage collection and disposal system. We would require an accurate tracking of the garbage trucks in the metropolis and that is where these modern technologies come handy," says New Delhi Municipal Commissioner, Mr Rakesh Mehta.

The GPS would enable the MCD to keep track of the garbage trucks, while GIS would have all the information on road networks and help in monitoring the movement of these trucks from data points for billing purpose.

Mr Mehta told Business Line that the MCD had already placed orders for smaller trucks that have onboard compactors and can carry up to three tonnes of cargo, sorry, trash.

The vehicles are being sourced from Eicher Motors and Swaraj Mazda.

"We had earlier imported 60 high-capacity trucks from Germany to ferry garbage. Those vehicles were a failure as they were too heavy to operate in our landfill sites. Moreover, they could not enter many areas of Delhi that are serviced by narrow roads," Mr Mehta said.

The present fleet of MCD comprises about 500 vintage garbage trucks that are not only open, but also lack any of the basic frills such as mudguards and mud-flaps. Many of these trucks are de-commissioned `Shaktimaan' army trucks that are highly polluting. The new trucks, that will start joining the fleet by the end of this month, are fuel-efficient and are less messy on the roads.

The MCD is also in the process of selecting vendors for the GPS and GIS systems and hopes to award the contracts by the end of this month. The first priority would be to equip the trucks with GPS and GIS in the six zones that are to be privatised, as the corporation would need to keep a track of the billing.

And it believes that other municipal authorities will replicate the model as well.

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