Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said that the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) will empanel more vendors to collect waste from bulk generators, addressing a long-standing demand of citizens.

Currently, BSWML has empanelled five companies, one for each corporation, to collect waste from bulk generators. However, citizens have been complaining about the monopoly, alleging that they are forced to spend more than necessary on waste disposal.

Most of the empanelled vendors are charging ₹12 per kg, while other private vendors, before the BSWML mandated that waste be handed over only to empanelled vendors, had been charging much less.

On July 15, Mr. Gowda clarified that the government of Karnataka has fixed ₹12 per kg as the maximum charge, and that customers can bargain. He said they have instructed the vendors to charge around ₹8 per kg, and urged stakeholders to negotiate with the vendors.

However, citizens maintain that there is little scope for bargaining because only one vendor is empanelled for each corporation, leaving them with no alternative, but to pay the price fixed by the vendor. The Minister has now assured that more vendors will be empanelled.

A source from the BSWML told The Hindu that although the process to empanel more vendors has been initiated, it will take at least three months to implement. “The current vendors have been given a contract for one year each. The new empanellments will align with the expiry of the existing contracts,” he said.

Mr. Gowda urged bulk generators not to hand over waste to non-empanelled vendors, alleging that they collect the fees, but do not process the waste, which eventually ends up on the streets, or in some government facility.

Currently, bulk generators have three options to dispose their waste:

• Hand it over to empanelled vendors
• Managing it through self-segregation and processing
• Give it to the BSWML, which charges ₹12 per kg