E-rickshaws to be used to collect waste in Vizag

Visakhpatnam: To get a smart tag and to improve rakings in the ensuing Swacch Survekshan Survey (2019) rankings, the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is drafting plans.

As part of the efforts,  the GVMC is planning to launch a pilot project for solid waste collection from door to door at Area Based Development (ABD) areas under smart city mission.

Tenders will be called  for 60 e- rickshaws with an estimated cost of Rs 8 crores. As per the solid waste management guidelines, the GVMC is opting for e- rickshaws to collect waste from households in the city.

GVMC Commissioner M Hari Narayanan said that in controlling the pollution on the city roads we have drafted plans to adopt e rickshaws instead   of regular vehicles for collecting solid waste from various places and to dump it at specified places.

At present for each vehicle it was costed around Rs 1.22 lakhs whereas the e rickshaws were priced around Rs 85,000 to Rs 1 lakh based  on their pickup levels. These vehicles are eco friendly, he added.

A senior GVMC official from sanitation department said that each vehicle has the capacity of carrying one ton of solid waste and can access with a power of 1000 watts motor and with three battery capacity of 120AH each ,along with 48v of voltage.

These vehicles have to be charged for six to seven hours based on their maintenance in a day and can travel to a distance of 70 km including  hilly areas. Four electric recharge stations would be set up in the city so that the vehicles can be recharged.