Puducherry to roll out QR-code-enabled garbage collection system

A QR-code-based monitoring system is being rolled out in the Puducherry and Oulgaret municipalities to achieve 100% door-to-door collection of waste, track the visits of sanitation workers, and identify gaps in service. However, sanitation workers have urged the Puducherry government to abandon the movie, stating it would add to their heavy workload.

Work has begun on affixing stickers to 89,596 houses in the Puducherry municipality and 1,08,799 houses in the Oulgaret municipality. Each sticker will carry the ward, street, and house number, along with a mobile phone number for complaints.

According to an official of the Local Administration Department, “Puducherry generates about 450 tonnes of waste daily. Workers engaged by Green Warrior, the firm entrusted with solid waste management in Puducherry, collect household waste, but ensuring regular visits to every house has remained a challenge.”

He added that under the system, workers, animators, and supervisors appointed by Green Warrior would scan the QR codes at each house during their rounds using their devices and record the collection online. The supervising officials of the private firm and the LAD would be able to monitor coverage from their offices and identify households where waste had not been collected.

Residents can call the number on the QR code to report non-collection, enabling instructions to be issued to the workers concerned.

G. Anandavel, a senior sanitary inspector with Green Warrior, said the affixing of QR-code stickers had been completed in all households in the Raj Bhavan constituency, while the process was in full swing in six other Assembly segments in the Puducherry municipality and seven constituencies in the Oulgaret municipality. The work will be completed shortly.

An official of the LAD said the initiative would also support the monitoring of segregation into four streams – wet waste, dry waste, sanitary waste, and special-care waste. Daily reports will be submitted to both the private firm and the LAD to identify shortcomings and facilitate corrective action.

Sanitation workers urge govt. to scrap move

Meanwhile, the Puducherry State Sanitation Workers’ Union said the QR-code-based monitoring system would add to the workload of workers and urged the Puducherry government to abandon the move.

According to the association president, Moorthy, sanitary workers were already struggling with a heavy workload and staff shortages. The workers collected household waste in three shifts and currently obtained a signature from a designated person in each street to confirm their visits.

Requiring them to scan and record collection at every house would impose an additional burden, he said.

According to him, workers in Puducherry had been receiving less than ₹10,000 a month, while their counterparts in Chennai and Bengaluru were paid more. He claimed that even workers in those cities were not required to follow such a system. The authorities should address staff shortages and wage issues rather than impose additional requirements, he said.