Aurangabad: City-based NGO ‘Forum for Public Policy’ has expressed disappointment with the civic administration’s apathy towards solving the garbage crisis.Shrikant Umrikar, a member of the NGO, said that in mid-March, the organisation had facilitated a meeting between in-charge municipal commissioner Naval Kishor Ram with the people working in dry waste recycling industry so as to incorporate them in the solid waste management of the city.“We had proposed to Ram that the ragpickers, scrap dealers and those who mechanically convert plastic waste into useful material can be brought on board by the AMC to ensure segregated dry waste is taken care off without any extra investment on the part of the civic body. We had asked the in-charge AMC chief to provide land to these unorganised workers so that they can sort dry waste into different categories and set up their machines to break down plastic waste and convert it into granules,” Umrikar said.After hearing their idea, Ram had promised to incorporate the scrap dealers into the system. However, Umrikar said the civic chief and other AMC officials are not responding to them.The NGO placed the same proposal before urban development department principal secretary Manisha Mhaiskar on her visit to the city on March 9. During her interaction with the media, Mhaiskar categorically stated the rag-pickers and scrap dealers are the municipal corporation’s best friends. They should be looped into the system to help with the sorting and recycling of dry waste.However, the municipal corporation has closed the only dry waste sorting centre in the city at Central Naka. The facility provided a shed and a formal setup to 42 ragpickers who sorted upto 10 tonnes of dry waste daily. Now, these ragpickers are back on the roads and are forced to work under unhygienic conditions.

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