Civic body set to face monsoon blues with conked-out vehicles!

GUWAHATI, March 3: The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) is trying to keep the city clean with rickety and rusty vehicles and machines meant for maintaining cleanliness in the city. 

This is glaring from the admission of none other than Guwahati Mayor Mrigen Sarania. 

GMC has as many as 264 vehicles – excavators, dumpers, garbage compactors, sweeping machines, de-silting tankers and machines, DI pick-up vans, autovans, road rollers, skid steer rollers, etc. As many as 195 of the 264 vehicles of the civic body, according to sources, are for cleaning drains and transporting garbage. However, 98 of them have been lying idle for the past six years. 

“We don’t have any mechanical department at under disposal. However, we do repair vehicles when they conk out. We’ve already submitted Budget proposals to the government. We’re going to buy new vehicles, besides getting conked-out vehicles repaired. Some of our vehicles are lying idle,” Guwahati Mayor Mrigen Sarania said while talking to this reporter.

When asked as to how the civic will clean the drains in the city with its rickety and rusty vehicles of all hues, the Mayor said: “It has nothing to do the cleaning drive in the city. We’re outsourcing the jobs to contractors who get things done with their own vehicles. Only in some cases which we do ourselves, we have to use our own men and machines.”                 

Such a large number of GMC vehicles conking out is bound to affect the city denizens when they will be under the grip of flash floods. While fighting flash floods, the civic body can never fight the mece out effectively with its rickety and rusty vehicles. 

According to the GMC sources, six of the 17 excavators, 14 of the 33 dumpers, six of the 22 garbage compactors, eight of the 13 vehicles carrying water, four DI pick-up vans, two of the three sweeping machines, all the de-silting tanker and machines, two autovans, five Maruti vans, four road rollers, etc., of the civic body have been lying idle for the past six years. While some of the vehicles have minor defects, many other have major ones. In some cases, machines placed atop vehicles are out of order.