Amid BJP protests, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation council approves service provider for kitchen bin

A council meeting of the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation on Wednesday witnessed heated exchanges over the selection of the service provider for installation and maintenance of bio-composter kitchen bins for treatment of biodegradable waste at homes.

The meeting decided to approve Omega Ecotech Products India Private Limited, which quoted the lowest unit rate of ₹1,975, as the service provider even as the councillors of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) walked out towards the end of the meeting as Mayor Arya Rajendran rejected their demand for setting aside the particular agenda regarding the kitchen bin to be considered in the next meeting.

Five private agencies had responded to the tender floated by the civic body in September 2024. Following this, a technical evaluation of their functioning was conducted by installing the bins in 10 houses chosen by the Corporation for a pilot run. Out of the five agencies, one did not participate in the technical evaluation. As per the assessment conducted by a technical committee headed by Health Standing Committee chairperson Gayathri Babu, two of the agencies were found wanting in continued service and monitoring. From the remaining two, Omega was chosen based on a lower quote in the financial bid.

Lack of clarity

BJP councillor K. Anilkumar alleged that there was a lack of clarity in the agenda, which appeared to be tailored to favour particular agencies. He said that in the total outlay for the project, the number of bins proposed to be distributed and the members of the technical committee were not specified. The wards in which the pilot run was conducted was also not specified. Omega, the chosen agency, was not a Suchitwa Mission approved service provider, he said, as per a letter from the Mission in 2017.

However, Ms. Babu, in her reply, said that no agency without the Suchitwa Mission’s approval or which is part of a blacklist will be considered for the Corporation’s project. She said that the technical committee headed by her comprised engineering wing officials, health officer, and representatives of the Suchitwa Mission and the Kerala Solid Waste Management Project (KSWMP). The committee had ranked the agencies based on 10 parameters, including their past experience in the field. The pilot run was carried out in four wards in the Ulloor zone with the cooperation of the respective councillors, belonging to various political parties.

The BJP councillors appeared to be unconvinced by the explanation and demanded that the agenda be set aside for further discussions, a demand which the Mayor denied, leading to the walkout.