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SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN AGARTALA CITY

Collection & Storage

Generation of MSW

Transportation

Dump Yard

ProcessingCompost generation

BY

MILIND RAMTEKE, IAS

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

AGARTALA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

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Introduction:

Capital Agartala (new) was founded in 1838 AD by Maharaja Krishna Kishore Manikya (1830-49 AD).Agartala is the capital of

the Indian state of Tripura and is second largest city in North-east India after

Guwahati, both in municipal area and population. Agartala lies on the bank of Haora River and is located 2 km from Bangladesh. The Nobel laureate Indian

poet Rabindranath Tagore visited the city more than once and stayed in a

house called Malancha Nibas that still exists. From 1901 to 1971 the city remained in a negligible development progress with only a 8 sq km or area but from 1981 Agartala started to expand and increase its connectivity in various

fields along with its city area with 58.84 sq km. Haora is the most important rivers in Tripura. Agartala city lies on the banks of the Haora River, which

actually originates in Baramura Hills and merges into the Titlas River across the Bangladesh border. The river basin catchment area is approximately 488sq.km. The city of Agartala is located lower elevations than areas

surrounding it, specifically making it look like a saucer. Agartala is Located on NH-44. It is the Capital & Main City of Tripura State and also Administrative,

Business, industrial, Educational & Health Center having Airport and Railway facility.

Agartala Municipal Council(AMC):The The Agartala Municipality was instituted in 1871 AD during the reign

of Maharaja Chandra Manikya (1862-96 AD). The 1st British Political Agent,

Mr. A.W.B. Power appointed for hill Tipprah in 1871 AD, was offered the honour of being the Chairman of the

Agartala Municipality. The Municipal Administration in Agartala was

established in 1874 A.D and the city became a planned city by the then Maharaja Bir Bikra Manikya Bahadur

in 1940s.This erstwhile Princely State Capital of Tripura merged with India on 15th October 1949. Pt5resent area of

AMC is 58.84 sq km. AMC is going to be declared as Municipal corporation

very soon.

Brief information of AMC:

Four Zones- South, North East and Central,

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Number of wards-35

Total Area- 58.84 Sq Km and

Density of 6,251/Sq km (16,190/sq mile) .

No of Households is- 90000(Tentative)

No of families as per ROR: 113000

Categories of Solid Waste Generation in Agartala:

1. Municipal Solid Waste & 2. Biomedical Waste

Municipal Solid Waste: As per the MSW Rules-2000, Municipal Solid Waste is

a trash/garbage that is discarded on day to day basis in a human settlement

and includes commercial and residential waste generated in a Municipal or

notified areas in either solid or semisolid form excluding industrial hazardous

wastes but including treated biomedical waste.

Rules and Guidelines to be followed by Municipalities in the field of Solid

Waste Management:

• Created by the Ministry of environment and Forests, GoI in 2000

• Foundation stone for SWM in India

Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000

• Formulated by the Ministry of Urban Development GoI in 2008

• Broadly covers the aspects of Urban Sanitation including SWM

National Urban Sanitation Policy

•Benchmarks to evaluate the performance of Urban Services by Urban Local Bodies

Service Level Benchmarks by Ministry of Urban

Development GOI

•Mentions various Solid waste management rules, guidelines, procedures for handling, transporting processing and disposal

Guidelines mentioned in JnNURM SWM Toolkit 2012

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Composition of Municipal Solid Waste(MSW) in Agartala City

MSW

Horticulture waste

Constructi-on debris

Household Waste/

kitchen waste

Drain

SiltWaste

from

Market/

Mandies

Institutional

Commercial

workshops waste

Road sweeping

waste

Dead

Animals/

Carcasses

Quantity and composition of daily generation of MSW in Agartala City:

Agartala being a rapidly growing city, generates large quantity of Solid Waste

and other waste such as bio-medical waste. As such there has not been any

systematic study regarding the quantity of the Municipal Solid Waste generated

in Agartala City. But from the reference of the SWM toolkit prescribed by

Sources of Solid Waste Generation Quantity ( Tentative)

Waste Generated from door to door collection 20 MT/Day

Waste Generated by Vegetable Markets, Fish Markets, Mandis etc 60 MT/Day

Waste generated by workshops/garages/electronic waste 4.5 MT/Day

Commercial waste (Hotels/shops/Institutions) 30 MT

Dead Animals/Carcasses 0.5 MT

Waste thrown collected by Sweeping and construction debris 125 MT

Drain silt 10 MT

Total daily Solid Waste Generation 250 MT/Day

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JnNURM, a city with population of 4-5 lakh and with middle level of economic

activity generates MSW at the rate of 0.5 to 0.6 kg per capita per day. As per

this calculation and as per the weight done at dumpyard, daily on an average

225-250 MT of solid waste is being generated in the city which increases

during the period of festivals such as Durga Puja.

From the above pie-diagramme it is noticed that extent of primary collection of Municipal Solid Waste (door to door collection of household

garbage) under Agartala city is much less than that of the secondary collection. The secondary collection which includes the garbage generated on roads by sweeping and cleaning activity, amounts to about half of the daily generated

garbage. In fact this garbage is nothing but the same garbage which is thrown by the people on the roads and inside the open drains.

The quantity of the solid waste generated from the markets and mandies comprises about 20% of all the generated garbage. The reason for this is that Agartala is the main city where there are large number of big , medium and

small vegetable, fish, meat etc markets. It has been also noticed that due to increasing construction activity under the city, proportion of construction debris is also increasing day by day. The extent of industrial and electronic

waste is almost negligible as there are no major industries inside Agartala City. But as the city will keep of growing economically and commercially, extent of

electronic waste will rise in future.

12%

20%

2%

12%

0%

50%

4%

% of various types of Solid Waste in Agarala city

Waste Generated by Householdwaste/Kitchen Waste( door todoor collection)Waste Generated by VegetableMarkets, Fish Markets, Mandis etc

Waste generated byworkshops/garages/electronicwasteCommercial waste(Hotels/shops/Institutions)15%

Dead Animals/Carcasses

Waste thrown on roads collectedby Sweeping of roads

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Waste Generation Stage Primary Collection Secondary Collection & Transportation Waste Treatment Waste Disposal

Waste Generation : House Holds, Commercial Waste, Street Sweeping Waste, Parks, Municipal waste from Hospitals etc.

Recovery of Recyclable waste

Construction and Demolition(C&D) Waste: Consists of concrete & masonry waste-Non Recyclable

Street Sweeping

Door to Door Collection

Bulk Collection from Markets, Institution, Hotels and Restaurants, Boarding House etc

Drain Clearing Sludge

Biological Treatment Technology -Aerobic composting, -Anaerobic Decomposition methods (Such as bio-methanation)

Thermal Treatment Technology -Incineration, -Gasification etc. Recyclable waste

Bulk Generations: Market, Instutions, Hotals& Restaurants, Salughter House Waste etc.

Disposal in Sanitary Landfill

Stages of Waste generation, collection, transport and disposal as per the Guidelines mentioned in the

SWM Toolkit given by Urban Development Ministry, GoI.

Community Collection

Bins (DP

containers)/Refuse

Compactors/ Dhalaos

etc.

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Primary Collection of Municipal Solid Waste under AMC-

Primary collection is the practice of waste collection from its very source of generation. Primary collection includes ‘house to house’ for ‘door to door’

collection, collection of waste from commercial units like shops, hotels and restaurants.

House to house garbage collection under some wards of AMC is being done by

NGOs using tri-cycles and auto rickshaw. Rs. 30/house per month is being

charged by the NGO as user fee.Efforts are going on to give the service six days

in a week and to further improve the system by procuring new small auto

trucks.Present Coverage:30 to 40 %

Secondary collection of Municipal Solid Waste under AMC:

Agartala Municipal Council has placed more than 500 number of

medium(1.1 cu meter) and large size(4.5 cu. Meter) Bins/containers by the

side of major roads and in market and commercial areas. Daily more than 400

sweeping staff sweep the roads and market areas and garbage is collected in

above said bins. Also one sweeping machine is also engaged for sweeping roads

where there is footpath by the side of road.

Transportation:

Solid Waste thus generated is transported to the dump yard of Agartala

Municipal Council which is about 15 km away from the main city of Agartala.

On an average 25 vehicles of Agartala Municipal Council move daily twice or

thrice for this purpose. As per the standard calculation about 40 vehicles make

three trips for the Dump-yard. For this 280-300 no of labours from Mechanical

section of Agartala Municipal Council are engaged, majority in morning and

some in after noon shift for lifting the garbage from the roadside and from the

drains and also from various dustbins/containers. All the vehicles of

Mechanical wing are installed with GPS enabled vehicle tracking system.

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Disposal of SWM at present:

At present all the garbage thus collected from the city is disposed in open

in two Dump yards by way of landfill without proper processing. There is some

facility for processing of garbage at Debendra Chandra Nagar Dump yard but it

is not so scientific and sufficient. Hence most of the garbage is dumped without

processing. Work for Rs. 16.50 Crore, 250 Tons per day solid waste processing

plant has already started at Debendra Chandra Nagar Dump yard.

New initiatives by Agartala Municipal Council in the sector of

Solid Waste Management :

New initiatives are being taken up and are planned to be implemented in near

future as per the guidelines mentioned in the SWM Toolkit given by JnNURM.

1. Procurement of modern sophisticated SWM Vehicles: Agartala

Municipal council recently procured modern SWM vehicles worth about

Rs. Eight Crores with the assistance from the State Government which

includes 3 number of 14 Cu Meter Refuge Compactors, 10 Number of 8

Cu Meter Refuge Compactors, four no of skid steer loaders, 400 no of

medium containers etc. With these vehicles the collection and

transportation of MSW under Agartala Municipal council shall become

more efficient and economical. By one estimate, the efficient use of refuge

compactors may save Rs. 50 lakh per year.

2. Procurement of two powerful heavy de-silting machines for drain

clearance: Two number of powerful de-silting machines have been

recently procured which will be helpful for reduction of manual cleaning

of city drains to significant level. The silt is being disposed in the landfill

at the Dump yard. These machines will ensure speedy cleaning of

covered drains of city.

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3. Phasing out of old vehicles and small containers- about 20 No of old

vehicles including small and medium dumper placers, old trucks and

trippers will be phased out thus saving around Rs 50 lakh per year

which is at present required for fuel and repair maintenance of these

vehicles. Provision has been made in 2013-14 budget of AMC.

4. Installation of software for vehicles of SWM- Already a software has

been prepared by NIC which will be helpful for online issue of fuel for

vehicles, procurement of spare-parts etc thus eliminating the scope

manual manipulations. The software has been prepared by NIC and shall

be installed and become operational soon.

5. Uniform/dress to conservancy staff: As per the guidelines mentioned

in the SWM Toolkit Agartala Municipal council has started distribution of

the uniform, protective gears such as caps, boots, gum-boots, hand

gloves , cloth masks etc to all the workers engaged in sweeping and

garbage lifting activity. As per the norms Agartala Municipal council shall

provide two sets of uniforms to all the conservancy staff of Agartala

Municipal Council each year. Necessary allocation has already been done

in the budget of this year for the said purpose.

Newly Provided

Uniform/dress to

conservancy staff

Dump Tank of

De-Silting

Machine

Newly

Procured

De-Silting

Machine

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6. Use of sweeping machine so as to improve cleanliness and

efficiency: Agartala Municipal council has recently procured one

sweeping machine to assist the sweeping staff to ensure cleaning and

sweeping in proper way.

7. Setting up of 250 TPD Solid Waste Processing plant at Devendra

Chandra Nagar, Agartala ( Project Cost Rs. 16.50 Crore):

Agartala Municipal Council is going to set up 250 tons per day

capacity Solid Waste Processing Plant ( Composting and Scientific Landfill)

Joint venture basis. Fund is made available by the State Government under

SPA. Already the work has started. Plant to be operational by March 2014.

There will be also generation of eco-bricks.

8. Dispensary for regular health check up of SWM workers:

As per the SWM Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Urban

development Government of Tripura, at least two medical check ups are

mandatory for all the personnel dealing with SWM. At present no such health

check ups are being done under Agartala Municipal Council. Now Agartala

Municipal Council has decided to set up one OPD based dispensary which will

become functional by September 2013. All the staff dealing with SWM shall be

Mechanical sweeping

under process

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given health cards and there shall be two health check ups mandatorily after 6

months. Necessary budget provisions have already been made in this year

budget for the said purpose.

8. Start of regular, dedicated Primary Municipal waste collection system

(door to door garbage collection system) in some wards.-

In addition to the existing door to door garbage collection system,

Agartala Municipal Council has started primary Municipal Waste collection

(door to door ) system which will be on daily basis for six days in a week and

mechanized vehicles such as Auto trucks shall be used for door to door

garbage collection in order to save the time and increase the efficiency and

effectiveness. At present this system has been started in in some uncovered

wards in which the expenditure for auto rickshaw hiring shall be borne by

Agartala Municipal Council and the payment of the NGOs collecting the door to

door garbage shall be made through the user fee of Rs 30/household/month.

The outcome/effects are under study at present.

7. Plan for generation of awareness among citizens through IEC activities:

AMC has planned for massive IEC activities on SWM through Leaflets,

banners, posters, announcements, small movie clips on SWM, Newspaper

adds, school programmers for maintenance of cleanliness and sanitation and

for extending cooperation to AMC for Sweeping, Cleaning, lifting of garbage and

also for door to door garbage collection. Effort will be to bring change in the

attitude of common people so that the people may stop throwing garbage on

roads and drains, water bodies and keep the garbage ion the roadside

containers or give it to the AMC staff/NGO who is coming for door to door

collection of garbage..

New regular Door to

door garbage

collection system

on daily basis in

ward no 3 of AMC

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Some other related initiatives under Agartala Municipal council

1. Collection, Transportation and disposal of bio- Medical ( hazardous

waste)

2. Sewerage system under North Zone

3. Mechanical Septage collection and treatment of septage at Sewerage

Treatment Plant

4. Construction of ILCS for EWS families

5. Rs. 200 Crore Drainage Project under 13th Finance Commission Grant

1. Collection, Transportation and disposal of Bio- Medical ( Hazardous

waste):

Agartala Municipal Council is collecting bio-Medical waste from all the

Government/private hospitals, nursing homes, medical colleges, pathology

laboratories on daily basis. Necessary safety norms are being followed for this

purpose. Some user fee is being charged for this. The bio-Medical waste which

is collected is incinerated in the Diesel incinerator of Agartala Municipal

council located at Hapania.

Collection Transportation Incineration

2. Sewerage Scheme at North Zone of Agartala Municipal Council under

JNNURM

Currently, the City of Agartala does not have an underground sewage

collection and sewage treatment system. The untreated sewage finds its way

into several drainage channels of the city and eventually finds its way into the

Haora River, Khatakhal River, and Akhaura channel. As an impact of this, the

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water quality is affected severely, which is also confirmed by monitoring the

physic-chemical and bacteriological parameters of the river water upstream

and downstream of the City of Agartala. The Central Pollution Control Board

identified the river stretch along the City of Agartala for the Haora River to be

one of the grossly polluted stretches in minor river basins in India and has

recommended immediate conservation measures. The Tripura Pollution Board

carried out assessments and recommended the implementation of a

comprehensive sewerage collection and sewage treatment system for the City of

Agartala.

Agartala Municipal council has taken up Rs 102.21 Crore Scheme under

progress JNNURM for North Zone of Agartala Municipal Council –to be

operational by December 2013. Almost 70 % work completed. 95 km sewer

line network covering entire North Zone of AMC, 3500 manholes, 9 pumping

stations, 11 lifting stations, one Sewerage Treatment Plant with 8 million liter

per day sewerage processing capacity. The scheme may be functional by March

2014.

• The components are-

1. Sewerage House Connections and pipelines

2. Sewage Pumping Stations

3. Sewage Treatment and Disposal Facilities

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3. Mechanical Septage collection and treatment of septage at Sewerage

Treatment Plant:

Mechanical collection of septage Proposed treatment of septage in STP

i. AMC has set up the target to clean 6000-7000 septic tanks mechanically

per year using cess-pool machines. For this AMC is going to procure two

number of split type cess-pools which can enter inside narrow lanes and

gullies of the city. Also two conventional cess pools are going to be

procured shortly thus taking the total number of cess-pools to six from

the present two upto December 2013. If one cess-pool can clear 4-5

septic tanks per day then six cesspools can clear 25-30 septic tanks per

day. Thus the target of mechanical clearance of 6000-7000 septic tanks

in a year can be achieved. For making the cess-pool services sustainable

from the current loss making practice, a proposal to raise the charge of

cess-pool services to Rs. 1500/trip from that of the Rs. 900/trip. AMC is

going to start online booking and payment for cess pool services very

shortly.

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ii. Treatment of the septage thus collected shall be done in the 8 Million

Liters per Day(MLD) Capacity Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) which is

going to be operational by March 2014 under the JnNURM Sewage

Scheme under ward no 2 of AMC where pure water will be generated out

of this septage which can be used for horticulture/agricultural purpose..

iii. Simultaneously AMC is taking steps for massive public awareness

through print, electronic media, small movies clips on SWM, various

mass programmes, by pamphlets, leaflets etc especially during the

coming Durgapuja period.

iv. Proposal for legal action against those who put the septage and overflow

of the septic tanks into the storm-water drains thus violating Tripura

Building Rule-2004

4. Integrated Low Cost sanitation (ILCS) Scheme implementation under

AMC:

Integrated Low Cost sanitation is scheme for urban poor under Ministry

of HUPA, Government of India. Already a DPR for construction of 18790 ILCS

units across the city of Agartala has been approved by the Government of India

in 2012 and till date more than 3500 ILCS units have already been constructed

under this scheme. Agartala Municipal council is trying hard to complete the

target of construction of 18970 no of Integrated Low Cost Sanitary Latrines by

the end of March 2014, which will help to eliminate the practice of dry latrines

and open air defecation from Agartala City and shall help significantly to

reduce the contamination level of the rivers and water bodies.

Old Dry

Latrine

New ILCS

Latrine

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5. Drainage Project under 13th Finance Commission Grant:

Work has already started under Agartala Municipal Council for

construction of RCC covered drains worth of Rs. 200 Crore under Agartala

Municipal Council area under 13th FC grant in aid. Covering of the drains shall

cerate space for foothpaths and shall ease congestion and traffic on the road.

Also it will help to prevent throwing of garbage and plastic materials into the

open drains by careless people thus chocking the drains and contaminating

and blocking the flow of storm water drainage.

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OUR GOAL

To make City of Agartala fully clean and green by effective

contribution and active participation of all the stake-holders

under Agartala Municipal council.

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