Lucknow garbage collection to go hi-tech

The Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) is all set to raise the bar for solid waste management in the state capital.

The LMC has decided to introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology so that bar codes can be used to ensure door-to-door garbage collection.

Municipal Commissioner Indramani Tripathi said they were inspired by Pune Municipal Corporation for this project.

"We have brought the technology from a Pune firm at Rs 10 lakh. The bar code will contain the GPS location of every house for easy monitoring from the control room," he said.

The pilot project in Geetapalli ward here will begin very soon, he said.

According to him, a bar code will be pasted outside every house and a sanitation worker will be required to scan the same using a smart phone after his/her daily duty.

Scanning the bar code will send an instant alert to the LMC control room and is likely to go a long way in checking employee truancy.

According to the LMC officials, Geetapalli ward has around 49,000 households. The bar code installation work will take three days and the smart garbage collection service will begin soon thereafter.

If the pilot project is successful, it will be extended to all the 110 wards under LMC.

At present, the civic body`s private partner Ecogreen has deployed around 300 workers in every ward for daily door-to-door garbage collection.

Workers who do not have smartphones will be provided with the same by LMC, which has earmarked Rs 15 lakh for this.

The phones will have to be deposited with the supervisors after the day`s work.