SP Working Paper Series

Working Paper No. 39

NGO Led Partnership in Solid Waste

Management - Ranchi

Darshini Mahadevia
Appeeji Parasher

December 2005

School of Planning
CEPT University, Kasturbhai Lalbhai Campus
University Road, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380 009
Contents

1 Introduction to the Region ........................................................................................1

2 SWM Initiative ...........................................................................................................4

3 Clean Jharkhand Project (CJP) ...............................................................................6

4 Scale and Coverage of the Project............................................................................7

5 Institutional Mechanism and Arrangement ..........................................................10

6 Partnership/ Alliances: ............................................................................................12

6.1 ICEF and NGO (NBJK):................................................................................... 13
6.2 NGO and RMC ................................................................................................. 13
6.3 NGO and other municipalities in the state for replication ................................ 13
6.4 NGO and research institutions for technology adoption................................... 13
6.5 NGO and community i.e. PDC or WDC........................................................... 13
6.6 Formation of Pocket Development Committee (PDC)..................................... 14
6.7 Constitution of Ward Committees .................................................................... 15
6.8 Awareness ......................................................................................................... 16
6.9 Capacity Building ............................................................................................. 18

7 Financing Mechanism and Institution ...................................................................19

8 System of Waste Collection, Transportation and Disposal..................................22

8.1 Overall City....................................................................................................... 22
8.2 Details of Waste Management in Ward No. 18 ................................................ 25
8.3 Composting and Recycling ............................................................................... 29
8.3.1 Community Development Approach in Processing.................................. 30
8.3.2 RMC Tractor Drivers Meet to regularize MSW transport to Composting
Plant 30
8.3.3 Market Waste Channelization................................................................... 32

9 Infrastructure...........................................................................................................32

10 Innovation in Practice..............................................................................................32

11 Sustainability ............................................................................................................33

12 Beneficiary Participation: .......................................................................................34

13 Upscalling: ................................................................................................................35

14 Future Plans: ............................................................................................................36

15 Overall scenario and findings from the case study:..............................................36

List of Tables

Table 1: District wise Population and Decadal Growth Rate in Jharkhand State............... 2
Table 2: Infrastructure status** in the District of Ranchi................................................... 3
Table 3: Wardwise Population & Total Waste Generated Per Day.................................... 8
Table 4: Chronology of initiative taken under the CJP....................................................... 9
Table 5: User charge contribution under CJP ................................................................... 19
Table 6: Expenditure made by RMC on SWM during 2003-05 (Rs in Lakh) .................. 20
Table 7: Revenue and Expenditure of ULBs in the State of Jharkhand (Rs in crore)...... 21
Table 8: Replication in Ranchi and in other ULBs........................................................... 35

List of Figures

Figure 1: (Above) Dense vegetation in Ranchi; (Below) Ranchi viewed from a hill......... 1
Figure 2: Waste accumulation in water body ..................................................................... 4
Figure 3: Launch of the CJP ............................................................................................... 4
Figure 4: Ward coverage under CJP ................................................................................... 9
Figure 5: Organization Structure of RMC ........................................................................ 10
Figure 6: Organization Structure of NBJK ....................................................................... 12
Figure 7: PDC meeting in progress................................................................................... 14
Figure 8: PDC federated into WDC.................................................................................. 15
Figure 9: Awareness Rally................................................................................................ 16
Figure 10: Street Play on SWM ........................................................................................ 16
Figure 11: Road Show ...................................................................................................... 17
Figure 12: Awareness among Children............................................................................. 17
Figure 13: Capacity Building of Officials and PDC members ......................................... 18
Figure 14: Ward Adoption Meeting in Progress............................................................... 22
Figure 15: Cleanliness Drive by CJP and RMC Staff Together ....................................... 23
Figure 16: Drain cleaning by safai mitra .......................................................................... 23
Figure 17: Doorstep collection and special cleanliness during Diwali festival ................ 24
Figure 18: Collection of Waste from inside the community and from the main streets by
RMC.......................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 19: The old dumping site and the new one............................................................ 25
Figure 20: The garbage collection point inside the community and on the main road (top);
Spraying of fumicides in open drain (below left); Morning attendance session in the
ward (below right)..................................................................................................... 27
Figure 21: Vermicomposting Unit at Chuttu in Ranchi.................................................... 29
Figure 22: Waste accumulation beside the Grave Ground of Birsa Munda ..................... 34
Figure 23: Eutorphication of Lake (top left); A garbage tractor stuck due to bad road (top
right).......................................................................................................................... 36
Figure 24: Lake Development by RMC............................................................................ 37
Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mr. Rajesh Kumar Das, Project Manager and Branch Head, Nav
Bharat Jagriti Kendra (NBJK), for his generous discussion on his experience of
community based issues; Mr. Awadhesh Prasad, Assistant Project Manager (APM) for
giving an initial insight on the project, Mr. Vishwa Ranjan, Policy and Liason Officer
(NBJK), Mr. Suresh Yadav, Community Coordinator (NBJK), for assisting in field visits
across various wards in Ranchi and sharing their experience on ground realities while
working with communities, Mr. Santosh Kumar, Supervisor, ward no. 18 of Ranch for
giving a detailed information of his ward; Mr. Shashi Ranjan (IAS), Administrator,
Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) for providing time for discussions and with the
necessary information, and Mrs. Rekha Rani, Health officer RMC for providing details
related to finances of RMC. We would also like to express our sincere thanks to
communities and other supervisory staff of the NBJK working under Clean Jharkhand
Project, animators and safai mitras for providing valuable insights on issues in SWM in
Ranchi.

We would also like to mention here the contribution of Mr. Amit Mistry, Student, School
of Planning, CEPT University, for assisting in collecting information from Ranchi.
Abbreviations

ACC Assistant Community Coordinator

APM Assistant Project Manager
CA Constitutional Amendment
CBO Community Based Organisation
CBSWM Community Based Solid Waste Management
CC Community Coordinator
CSI Chief Sanitary Inspector
CSO Chief Sanitary Officer
CJP Clean Jharkhand Project
DEO District Education Officer
GoJ Government of Jharkhand
HEC Heavy Engineering Corporation
HIG High Income Group
IGIDR Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research
ICEF Indo-Canadian Environment Facility
LIG Low Income Group
MIG Middle Income Group
MSW Municipal Solid Waste
MT Metric Tonne
NBJK Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra
NGO Non Governmental Organisation
NIUA National Institute of Urban Affairs
PDC Pocket Development Committee
PM Project Manager
RMC Ranchi Municipal Corporation
RRDA Ranchi Regional Development Authority
Rs Indian Rupee
RUA Ranchi Urban Agglomeration
RWA Residence Welfare Association
SWM Solid Waste Management
ULB Urban Local Body
WDC Ward Development Committee
 NGO Led Partnership in Solid Waste Management - Ranchi1,2
Darshini Mahadevia3
Appeeji Parasher4

1 Introduction to the Region

The northeast part of India, that is

the state of Jharkhand with some
portion of Bihar, West Bengal,
Madhya Pradesh and Orrisa is
prominently known as ‘Chotta
Nagpur Plateau’. The name
‘Jharkhand’ find its place in the
history, when, for the first time,
the agenda for formation of
Jharkhand as a special region was
submitted to Simon Commission
in 1929. The region was finally
separated in the year 2000 as
Jharkhand State (carved out from
Bihar state) and Ranchi was
declared as the administrative
capital (Singh 2005). Two other
states in India viz.

Figure5 1: (Above) Dense

vegetation in Ranchi; (Below)
Ranchi viewed from a hill

1
We have documented here the Clean Jharkhand Project (CJP) pilot project in the city of Ranchi. Two
field visits were made to the city, one during monsoon and other before the Diwali festival. Eventually,
both this point of time were crucial as the cities or urban centers in India get badly affected both during
rains (water logging due to solid waste) and during Diwali when the amount of waste generated as a
result of cleaning of houses is almost doubled. Within Ranchi, we have discussed in details the case of
one Ward (no. 18).
2
Information in this case study is largely based on discussions with various groups of people viz., the
NGO (NBJK), the municipal corporation officials and community members.
3
Faculty, School of Planning, CEPT University.
4
Research Associate, School of Planning, CEPT University.
5
Figures 3, 4, 7 – 15 & 21, courtesy NBJK.
1
Prior to the formation of state, Patna was the ‘administrative capital’ and Ranchi was
known as the ‘summer capital’ of Bihar because of its climatic conditions. The State of
Jharkhand derives its name because of the extensive forest cover; it is known that 29.3
percent of the total area of the state is under forest. The region is also known for high
percentage of tribal population of which in Jharkhand has 29.77 percent tribal population

Ranchi, is the district as well as divisional headquarter and now the capital of the newly
created State of Jharkhand, located at 23o23' north latitude and 85o23' east longitude. The
general climate of Ranchi is pleasant with average annual temperature of around 24oC.
The average annual recorded rainfall is around 126 cm. It is situated at an altitude of
654.5 m above sea level because of which the nights are relatively cool. It is known for
scenic waterfalls, salubrious climate, barren rocks and verdant hillocks. The terrain is flat
with few interesting hillocks ‘Tagore Hills’ and ‘Temple Hill (Figures 1 & 2), because of
which Ranchi is well recognized tourist centre. The city also has few lakes; one of it has
been recently developed by the corporation and the other near the “Birsa Munda Grave
(Samadhi)” is badly affected by Eutrophication, solid waste dumping and discharge of
sewerage.
Table 1: District wise Population and Decadal Growth Rate in Jharkhand State
S. No. District Population (2001) Decadal Growth Rate
(in lakhs) (1991-2001)
1 Ranchi 27.83 25.72
2 Hazirabagh 22.77 24.02
3 Dhanbad 23.94 22.82
4 Palamu 20.92 26.80
5 Western Singhbhum 20.80 16.35
6 Eastern Singhbhum 19.78 22.66
7 Bokaro 17.75 22.11
8 Gumla 13.45 16.60
9 Dhumka 17.54 17.31
10 Girdihi 10.01 27.09
11 Devdhar 11.61 24.46
12 Godda 10.47 21.61
13 Gadwa 10.34 29.05
14 Chatra `7.90 29.05
15 Pakud 7.01 24.34
16 Kodarma 4.98 26.32
17 Sahebganj 9.27 25.89
18 Lohardagga 3.64 26.14
State Total (Jharkhand) 269.09 23.19
Source: Census 2001.

The state of Jharkhand has twelve districts with Ranchi as its largest district with a
population of 27.83 lakhs in the year 2001 (Table 1). Ranchi is the only district with the
status of Municipal Corporation6 in Jharkhand; there are 20 Municipalities and 22
notified area committees in the state.

6
Twelfth Finance Commission Report, description in NIUA, Vol. 8, No. 2, April-June 2005.
2
In 2001 census, the total population of Ranchi Urban Agglomeration (RUA) was
862,8507. The population of RMC area is 846,733. The City (RUA) has fairly good
literacy rate of 85.26 percent (persons), male literacy at 91.29 percent and female literacy
at 78.33 percent. Jharkhand is a tribal state and hence 29.77 per cent of the city’s
population is of Scheduled Tribes (ST). Schedule Caste (SC) population in the city is just
5.14 percent of the total population. Because of the advent of Missionaries during British
Regime there is sizeable population of converted tribal in the city, among whom the
literacy rate is considerably high.

A look at the infrastructure status of the district reveals that itself in urban Ranchi, around
40 percent of do not have access to toilet and another 60 percent are without drinking
water facility (refer table below). The rural areas are more stressed with 70 percent of the
households with toilets, electricity and water.
Table 2: Infrastructure status** in the District of Ranchi
Area No. of Percentage of Household with
Households Electricity Drinking Toilet Electricity Water & Electricity No
water & water toilet & toilet facility
Total 397,130 25.39 30.73 21.23 13.00 11.99 19.89 56.06
Rural 272,870 8.68 23.46 3.81 2.84 1.60 3.29 70.37
Urban 124,260* 62.08 46.68 59.46 35.27 34.81 56.3 24.65
* No. of HHs given in Census 2001 on RMC website is 144882 in 37 wards
** Year not mentioned in the source.
Source: Jharkhand Ek Parichaya.

Infrastructure in Ranchi in terms of drainage and sewerage is also not sound. The City
like other mid sized cities of India has no sewerage system8 or treatment facility presently
other than the areas served under ‘Heavy Engineering Corporation’ (HEC) and MECON.
All the major and minor drains in the city are open and exposed to deposition of silt and
garbage. Most of the residential buildings, commercial and educational institutions, have
on-site septic tanks and soak pits as temporary arrangement in the absence of a sewerage
network. The overflow from septic/soak pits finds it way to the nearby storm drains or
low lands, which ultimately discharges into ‘Subarnarekha’ river. In some cases, raw
sewage is also being discharged directly to the drains or even opens land causing health
hazards. The roadside drains have not been constructed scientifically after taking into
account peak hour rainfall. Minutes of a meeting of urban development department
reveals that only 40 percent of drains are ‘pucca’ and the drainage network has not been
7
As per data downloaded from census of India website (provisional figures).
8
The city has topographical advantage for taking care of its storm water run off. The city is slopping
away in all four directions more or less from centre. The storm run off from the town thus finds it way
to various drains and tributaries of river Subernarekha though roadside drains. The problem has been
compounded by unplanned expansion of the city. (Source: Minutes of the meeting held under the
Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner, Ranchi to approve the Project Proposal Report of integrated
sewerage system submitted by M/S Span Travers Morgan. See Urban Development Department letter
No. 119 dated 22.01.2004 and RMC letter No. 1992 dated 08.09.2004.)

3
designed in an integrated manner. The deposition of garbage (especially plastic) and silt
leads to clogging of drains and subsequently flooding even during mild rains.

2 SWM Initiative

Absence of proper system of SWM in Ranchi had created a situation of garbage dumps
all over the city with increasing environmental and health related problems. The city
municipal body, the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) was unable to cope with the
accumulated solid waste because of financial and administrative constraints. The
municipal body has been under financial and administrative stress and hence has not been
able to undertake solid waste management. What worsened the situation was that the state
government, that is, the Government of Jharkhand (GoJ) also was unable to give grants to
the RMC because of its own budgetary constraints. Hence, people’s partnership in SWM
had become imminent.
Figure 2: Waste accumulation in water body
As a result, ‘Clean Jharkhand Project’ (CJP), a
Community Based Solid Waste Management
(CBSWM) initiative was launched in 2002. The
project was initiated as a result of approach of a non-
government organisation (NGO) to a funding agency,
namely Indo-Canada Environment Facility (ICEF).
The approval from the ICEF was conditional to the
involvement of the state level agencies and the RMC.
Initially, Patna and Ranchi were selected for this
project, when Ranchi was part of Bihar state.
However, the project was launched after the
formation of Jharkhand, is now called ‘Clean
Jharkhand Project’ to impact the whole state. It took
almost 3 years to start the project, which largely
involved the launching mechanism and preparing the
framework of the work and other negotiations (as per
discussion with NGO). The NGO also went across
various places in the country where SWM was carried
out in an innovative way. In the beginning it was necessary for the NGO to garner local
support, for which it organised meeting and discussed the issues with RMC and other
local clubs, NGOs and other institutions of interest.
Figure 3: Launch of the CJP
ICEF is an organisation supported by the
Canadian Embassy. CJP is a partnership
between the Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra
(NBJK) an NGO, RMC and ICEF. RMC is
implementing this project in collaboration
with the NBJK, in the light of the
recommendations made by the Supreme
4
Court for mandatory door-to-door waste collection based on Community participation.
When the project was launched, the NGO along with the RMC organised a cleanliness
drive employing 125 labour for 15 days. This was done to send a message across the
community about the kind of change one would expect in the future.

Box 1: Indo-Canada Environment Facility (ICEF)

The India-Canada Environment Facility (ICEF) was established in 1993 following the signing
of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of India and the
Government of Canada in 1992. It is a joint project of the two governments for the purpose of
undertaking environmental projects in the water and energy sectors. The ICEF operates as a
registered society under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860 and is managed jointly by
representatives from the Governments of India and Canada. ICEF works directly with Indian
institutions and organisations to enhance and promote environmentally sound development,
with principal focus on building and sustaining institutional capacity and related management
capability in natural resource and environmental management. The main administrative office
of the ICEF is in New Delhi, India.

The decision-making body of the ICEF in respect to the sub-projects is the Joint Project
Steering Committee (JPSC). The JPSC has eight members, four nominated by the Government
of India and four by the Government of Canada. The JPSC is responsible for policy guidance,
ensuring the integrity, efficiency and effectiveness of all aspects of ICEF as well as to approve
the sub-project selection criteria, ICEF annual budgets, schedule shipment of commodities, and
selection and approval of sub-projects.

Indian organisations/institutions working in the environment sector, both NGO's and

government agencies, and in certain cases, the private sector may seek grant assistance to
implement a project consistent with the specific priorities and criteria set out by the ICEF.
Projects are funded on the basis of their potential to contribute to sustainable solutions to water,
land and energy related resource management issues in India. The current portfolio reflects
innovative approaches to building the capacities of the communities for natural resource
management.

While nine projects have been concluded, the remaining are at various stages of implementation
as on March 31, 2003.

The ICEF Project Office has developed guidelines to conduct performance assessment of the
projects in a participatory manner. Performance assessment consists of an appraisal of the
performance of the implementing organization, their partners and the ICEF in formulation,
implementation and overall management of the development project, and their success in
achieving results. ICEF has developed practical guidelines to comply with the Indian
Environmental Protection Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. All sub-
project proposals currently under review and in progress are subject to the requirements of these
Environmental Acts.

5
 Box 2: Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra (NBJK)

Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra was formed in 1970 by four young engineers inspired by Gandhi's
ideas. One of NBJK's main programmes is to develop a Community Action Network. This now
has about 150 grassroots groups usually made up of 3 to 4 people and led by an experienced
community worker. Each group focuses on issues most pressing in their area.

The Network operates by motivating people to act for themselves rather than providing direct
economic input into villages. All the grassroots groups work through Lok Samitis (People's
Committees). The Samitis discuss village issues, help people to gain access to their rights, and
work as "vigilance committees" for monitoring functioning of government programmes.

Now, 30 years on, NBJK is one of the region’s premier NGOs. Supporting grassroots groups
through its small groups support programme, NBJK also runs a wide range of programmes on
health, education, watershed development and appropriate technology throughout Bihar and
Jharkhand. Over the years, NBJK has developed a network of village level volunteers who run
its Lok Samiti network. The Lok Samiti members act as a watchdog on the government’s social
and economic programmes and, like the grassroots groups, do their best to ensure that
legislation such as the Minimum Wages Act is enforced, particularly on government
construction projects.

NBJK started its small groups support programme in the early 1990s as it realised that it was in
danger of becoming a big NGO and losing contact with the day-to-day realities in the villages.
So, it decided to grow and spread its influence and programmes by promoting new village-
based groups. It has provided training and guidance and, in some cases, financial support to
these new groups set up by committed people working in their own villages.

NBJK now has contact with over 200 grassroots groups in Jharkhand and Bihar and more
groups are coming forward to seek their support every day. NBJK is now planning a district
and state level support structure for the small groups programme, while promoting new groups
and identifying their capacity building needs. The network will develop an advocacy role.

3 Clean Jharkhand Project (CJP)

Clean Jharkhand Project (CJP) supported by India-Canada Environment Facility (ICEF)

is a Community Based Solid Waste Management (CBSWM) Programme aimed at
providing feasible Community Based Urban SWM towards better local physical
environment through better institutional building, mass awareness, capacity building and
local resource recovery approaches9. The Honourable Chief Minister of Jharkhand
launched it on 16th November 2002. The project duration is 5 years (Nov 2002 to Oct
2007). The project taken up in Ranchi city is for field demonstration of the system of

9
Clean Jharkhand Project – Half Yearly Report (1st April 04 – 30th Sept 04) prepared by NBJK, Ranchi
& submitted to ICEF, New Delhi.

6
SWM and will be used for advocacy, mass awareness and community action purposes. It
is envisioned that based on the results, the same model would be replicated in other 14
major municipalities of Jharkhand state.

The main objective of the project is to educate the local institutions of governance about
the already existing Supreme Court guidelines on SWM and their assigned roles and
responsibilities to better manage solid waste. This awareness and capacity building
initiative is expected to culminate with the State Government adopting a policy document
on SWM. This project was started with two-fold objective of Policy Advocacy and Field
Demonstration. It was planned to undertake Policy Advocacy for Community-Based
SWM model with the State Government and 14 local Municipalities and notified
committees of the State of Jharkhand.

At the field demonstration level for Ranchi city, local residents are required to contribute
directly towards improving civic amenities through Pocket Development Committees
(PDCs). The local community is mobilized to form PDCs to help in door-to-door
collection, segregation and local transportation to the nearest collection point. PDCs act
as a local hub, where the residents would oversee the performance of cleaning, collection
of dues and other environmental improvements in their locality. RMC helps with onward
transportation of the waste collected.

4 Scale and Coverage of the Project

To decide on the scale and coverage of the project, initially, a study was conducted on
quantity and composition of waste generated in Ranchi city, by the CJP in collaboration
with RMC in month of June 2004. Primary data was collected by random sampling
method. The sample size was 412 households in 7 different wards. Samples were drawn
from each ward comprising of 3 income groups viz. Higher Income Group (HIG), Middle
Income Group (MIG) and Lower Income Group (LIG). It was found that the total waste
generation was 325 Metric Tons (MT) per day and per capita waste generation was 247
gm /day. However, an estimate drawn from population and per capita generation reveals
that the waste generation in Ranchi city is 209 Metric Tons (MT) per day (Table 3).

From the Table 3 it can be observed that ward number 20 and 8 has the highest level of
waste generation i.e. 14 MTs and 10 MTs respectively. The NGO (NBJK) is currently
working in ward number 20; ward number 8 is still managed by RMC. During the field
visit it was observed that the amount of waste generated during the Diwali festival is
almost double.

The study found that of the total waste generated, 24 per cent is inorganic and remaining
76 per cent is organic. The amount of recyclable waste in the inorganic waste is 19 per
cent, comprising of 1 per cent rubber, 8 per cent paper, 1 per cent glass, 8 per cent plastic
and 1 per cent metal, and remaining is other wastes. Out of total organic waste generated,
65 per cent is kitchen waste, 2 per cent is cloth waste, 1 per cent is wood and remaining
32 per cent is other waste. By income, the study found that HIG generated the highest
7
amount of waste (38 per cent), followed by MIG (27 per cent) and the LIG (35 per cent)
(NBJK 2004).

Table 3: Wardwise Population & Total Waste Generated Per Day

Ward No. Households Population Total Waste Generated
(2001) (2001) (in Kg/day) @ 0.247 Kg/day
1 5,089 30,153 7,448
2 6,212 33,537 8,284
3 2,061 12,656 3,126
4 6,108 35,494 8,767
5 1,842 12,700 3,137
6 780 4,868 1,202
7 3,891 24,638 6,086
8 7,219 41,477 10,245
9 6,384 35,551 8,781
10 4,974 27,058 6,684
11 3,557 27,058 6,166
12 2,175 24,964 4,005
13 2,350 16,215 4,045
14 2,457 15,958 3,942
15 3,387 23,624 5,836
16 2,045 14,929 3,686
17 2,925 19,821 4,896
18 4,460 24,834 6,134
19 5,882 34,363 8,488
20 9,941 56,749 14,018
21 5,162 29,826 7,367
22 5,698 31,951 7,892
23 3,462 18,770 4,636
24 3,645 19,806 4,892
25 3,970 23,266 5,747
26 4,870 22,556 5,572
27 3,756 22,077 5,454
28 1,921 13,401 3,311
29 3,558 19,519 4,821
30 5,020 28,518 7,044
31 3,364 18,434 4,553
32 2,723 14,360 3,547
33 2,051 12,157 3,003
34 2,624 15,418 3,808
35 2,989 15,727 3,885
36 3,729 20,105 4,966
37 2,601 15,173 3,748
Total RUA 144,882 846,733 209,216
Total District - 2,785,064
Total NBJK 420,872 103,962
Source: Census 2001 also available from the website of RMC.
Note: Wards in shaded rows are the ones covered by NBJK as of July 14, 2005

8
 Figure 4: Ward coverage under CJP
The RMC has 37 wards (Table 3).
Currently, the NBJK is implementing this
initiative in total 16 wards; it had taken up
14 wards earlier and has added two wards
recently. Apart from this RMC has
contracted 10 wards to three10 different
NGOs on a yearly basis for collection,
transportation and disposal of waste. Rest
11 wards are taken care of by the RMC
itself. Altogether three different parallel
mechanisms exist in Ranchi. The details of
ward population and waste generated in
these wards are given in Table 3. Total of
4,20,872 population, which is 49.70 percent
of the Ranchi Urban Agglomeration (RUA)
population, has been covered by under the
CJP project by NBJK.

In addition to these the CJP has also taken

up vermi-composting at Chuttu Village and
is about to start a new landfill site Zheeri
village in some months.

Table 4: Chronology of initiative taken under the CJP

S. No. Ward Number Year and Month of Starting
a) 7 September 2003
b) 1 and 4 December 2003
c) 17 and 18 January 2004
d) 14, 15, 16, 26 and 27 April 2004
e) 10, 22 and 19 August 2005
f) 3, 9 and 20 November 2005
Source: NBJK

Table 4 gives an idea of the sequence of expansion of the CJP in Ranchi by wards. Ward
number 7 was the first ward where the initiative started in terms of doorstep collection.
This ward is still working very efficiently. Ward number 11, 21, 23, 25, 29 and 30 have
scattered PDC, i.e. work is going on irrespective of the notion of a ward. Formally these
wards have not been undertaken from the corporation by the NGO. Strikingly none of the
wards (listed in the table above) or PDCs in it has taken a back seat. All of them have
consistently expanded in terms of number of PDCs in a ward.

10
Creative International, Express Seva Sanstha, Nirmal Bharat.
9
Apart from creating a sustainable environment together with cleanliness, the project also
requires awareness and partnerships with other organisations and replicating the same in
other urban local bodies (ULBs) of the state. The details of this are discussed in detail
later on the paper.

5 Institutional Mechanism and Arrangement

Figure 5: Organization Structure of RMC
RMC11 was established on 15-09-1979 by merging
erstwhile Ranchi Municipality, Doranda Administrator
Municipality and Ranchi Doranda joint water board.
It is the 2nd municipal corporation of erstwhile
Bihar. The first election of the corporation was held
in 1986. The elected body was superceded on 13- Dy. Administrator
10-91, thereafter the election of corporation has not
been held.

The existing Municipal Corporation Act, 1951 is Health Department

obsolete and voluminous. The powers, duties and
functions of the municipal authorities can be looked
into afresh particularly because of overlapping CSI
jurisdiction with other agencies. Some of the penal
provisions need revision12.

Solid waste management falls under the purview of CSO

th 13
Municipal Corporation. Since, the 74 amendment
of the constitution is implemented neither in Bihar
nor in the newly formed state Jharkhand; most of
the decision regarding any infrastructure development other than routine work needs
permission from the state government, of which the most critical issues pertain to
investments.

Presently, the health department of the municipal corporation, which is headed by the
administrator, holds the responsibility of managing solid waste. The urban development
department takes care of the sewerage. Currently, it is in the process of constructing
underground drainage system for the city of Ranchi, the tendering of which is in process.
Decision regarding location of new landfill site has also come from the urban
development department and the district administration. The middle level supervisory
structure for sanitation i.e. chief sanitary inspector (CSI) is non-existent with no
sanctioned post of sanitary inspectors, sanitary officers and environment engineer.

11
RMC website.
12
Article in Hindustan Times dated 25th August 2004 by Administrator, RMC.
13
However, the State has implemented the 73rd amendment of the constitution for establishing Panchayati
Raj System.
10
Consequently the Jamadars (labour supervisory staff) directly reports to the health
officer.

Decisions regarding with regards to the CJP was taken at the state level. After this, the
RMC has given wards mentioned in Table 3 to the NGO for primary waste collection
through a MoU. Further, the MoU states that the NBJK supervisor would supervise the
RMC staff (jamadar and two workers) for lifting the garbage from the desired points.
Field visit observation reveals a strong co-ordination both between RMC and NBJK staff.
NBJK’s community coordinators are in direct consultation with the health officer. The
corporation has also given a space to the NGO in RMC office for regular interaction.
There has been a significant expansion in the number of wards contracted out by the
corporation.

The NBJK also has a formal organisational structure. A project manager, in close
coordination with the community coordinator and the supervisor, handles the project.
From the field visit, it was observed that there was good communication between the
various members in the chain and also the community or PDC members. At each level a
written document is maintained to maintain transparency and accountability.

Box 3: How the Safai Mitra is appointed?

Bio data are invited through a notice in the newspaper and the applicants are selected through
personal interview and are kept for preliminary 3 months period. If any Safai Mitra is not
working properly then a permanent ban is put on the person and he is not allowed to work in
any other ward. Each Safai Mitra is given a pair of dress, which they have to wear daily while
they are working and if they do not wear it their half-day salary is cut.

For every four supervisors there is one assistant community coordinator (ACC) and one
supervisor handles one ward. The animator is responsible for collecting user charges
directly from the community and is deposited with the community coordinator.

The organisation has four different division14 which is coordinated by the assistant project
manager, viz.,

a) Awareness division
b) Capacity building division
c) Resource recovery division and
d) Policy and liaisoning division

14
The Resource recovery, awareness and capacity building division are discussed later in this chapter.
Policy and Liaisoning is discussed in partnership/ alliance head.

11
Figure 6: Organization Structure of NBJK

Project Manager (PM)

Awareness Division

Assistant Project Manager (APM)

Capacity Building
Division
Community Coordinator (CC)
Resource Recovery
Division
Assistant Community Coordinator
(ACC)
Policy and Liaisoning
Division
Supervisor

Safai Mitra Animator

In addition to this there are two more departments viz.:

i) Training Department: It offers training to Safai Mitras regarding their work and
etiquettes which they should follow as a member of the NBJK team, including how to
collect the garbage, how to go for door to door collection and whistle and wait till the
owner comes, how to talk to them, about their dressing code, etc.

ii) Documentation Department: It documents on regular basis all the work that is done by
NBJK including any workshop or newspaper article etc.

6 Partnership/ Alliances15:

One of the important aspects of the CJP is involvement of different stakeholders.

Although the project started as a result of initiation by the NGO and the ICEF, various
stakeholders were soon brought in to establish collaboration and cooperation among
them. The NGO has established a liaisoning division to built alliance with various
stakeholders.

15
A task force was also constituted to prepare a draft policy on SWM in Jharkhand State. The members of
the taskforce are from: a) NBJK, b) Member, Supreme Court Committee on SWM, c) ICEF, d) Urban
Development Department, e) RMC, f) Ranchi Regional Development Authority (RRDA), and h) Indira
Gandhi Institute of Development and Research (IGIDR).

12
These partnerships exist between:

6.1 ICEF and NGO (NBJK):

The initiative started as a result of funding from ICEF as mentioned earlier. The role of
NGO is to establish a sustainable community based SWM system with Ranchi as pilot
case and replicating this in other municipalities.

6.2 NGO and RMC

Recognising the crucial role of RMC in waste management, dialogue process was started
with the RMC even before the launch of the project. In fact the programme began with
signing of an agreement with the RMC under which CJP was permitted to work initially
in ward no.7. As per the agreement, the CJP would deploy Safai Mitras (Cleaning
friends) with the help of the community for door-to-door collection of waste, while RMC
would provide their human resource support along with their equipments and vehicle to
work with the CJP team in this endeavour. Convinced with the achievements of first
ward, the RMC agreed to allocate 15 more wards under CJP and thus CJP is covering
total of 16 wards under its SWM interventions. The corporation has allotted an office
space to the NGO for better coordination.

Apart from the partnership with NBJK, the corporation is also in alliance with three other
NGOs and has contracted out its 10 wards completely for collection, transportation and
disposal of waste. However, this does not fall under the CJP project.

6.3 NGO and other municipalities in the state for replication

To replicate the similar model of SWM in Ranchi, the NGO has organised workshops in
different parts of the state and entered in alliance with the respective municipalities for
further implementation.

6.4 NGO and research institutions for technology adoption

CJP in coordination with Thyagraj University, Madurai has identified technology of
waste plastic recycling by using it in road construction which also increases longevity of
road by reducing possibilities of pot holes. The concept is in discussion with the road
construction department and also with the ARMY personals.

6.5 NGO and community i.e. PDC or WDC

One of the major objectives of the project is to establish sustainable community based
SWM with active participation of the people. Active participation inversely implies the
responsibility of the community in managing the surrounding cleans. Based on such
ideology the initiative intended the formation of community groups (PDC) and
subsequently mobilizing the community and its resources for a healthy neighbourhood.

The partnership of NGO and community is built on trust of getting the requisite service
i.e. doorstep collection of waste, for which a household in the community contributes Rs.
20 per month. Direct user pay charge mechanism in turn increases the accountability of
the whole system. This is coupled with a close interaction with the service provider and
13
user, where each of them can claim for their right. It was observed that the interaction
with the public administration tended to become more bureaucratic, involving lengthy
procedures.

While the contribution is made for the service provision, the NGO also acts as a mediator
for the community to raise its issues and concerns to the RMC. The issues concerning
SWM and basic amenities like inadequate number of dustbins, poor drainage facility,
irregularity in lifting of garbage etc. is taken up with RMC on regular basis. However,
through orientation and training of PDC, community is slowly being empowered to raise
these issues on their own.

6.6 Formation of Pocket Development Committee (PDC)

PDC has been seen as key institution in the
CBSWM. It consists of selected community
representatives who organise together to take
action on behalf of community. The CJP
undertakes capacity building of PDCs to
develop and strengthen them as an effective
institution to deliver SWM in their colonies.

As per the discussions many of the present

community groups came into existence before
1970s. They were then formed for reasons of
security, mainly appointing security personnel
to guard the community16. It thus became
easier for the NGO to mobilize these
communities for SWM. Where such groups
did not exist, the NGO had to adopt new
approaches to form the community groups
(i.e. PDCs). In some instances, NBJK had to
motivate a key person of the community, such
as a senior citizen or a local leader, who then
extended their help in organizing groups
towards this purpose.

Figure 7: PDC meeting in progress

There is a set process to form a PDC. The
steps followed are:

a) Survey of the Mohalla (Area)

b) Identification of CBOs/ Club/ small NGO

16
Discussions with community members.
14
c) Informal meeting in colony by the CJP staff
d) Identification of interested person in SWM
e) Meeting with interested people
f) Door to door visit by CJP staff and interested residents
g) Formal meeting with residents
h) Deciding the office bearers of the PDC, namely the president, secretary, treasurer and
the general members
i) Formation of a PDC

In a single ward there may be 2 to 4 PDCs. The size of these PDCs ranges from 18-20
households to 230 households. These PDCs are both homogenous and heterogeneous in
nature. Some of these PDCs are self sustaining PDCs, i.e. the NGO provides them with
safai mitra while the payment to the safai mitra and rickshaw is directly borne by the
residents.

PDCs are imparted training on SWM as

well institutional and financial
management aspects. The regular
experience sharing meetings are organised
in which PDC members discuss problems
of their respective area and decide actions.
At the initial stage, these meetings are
facilitated by the CJP. The latter gradually
withdraws and members start conducting
the meetings independently.

Figure 8: PDC federated into WDC

6.7 Constitution of Ward Committees

It was realised that the PDCs were working in isolation and scattered form and the whole
ward was not involved in this. In a ward there were 2 to 3 PDCs, which were
administered differently. NBJK has started the process to federating all the PDCs of a
ward into a Ward Development Committee (WDC) to have a homogenous development.
Some households who do not co-operate in this initiative also receive the same level of
service.

Constitution of Ward Committees was done during ward level meetings organised under
awareness campaign17 “Ranchi Nagar Nigam Apke Dwar”. Members of ward committee
are the representatives of PDCs and hence the WDC in essence became the federation of
the PDCs. This has achieved two objectives, one is a singular representation of wards not
17
A mega campaign ‘Ranchi Nagar Nigam Apke Dwar’ (RMC at your doorstep) was organised from 21st
July to 13th August 2004 to facilitate interface between RMC and community, whose central focus was
organisation of ward level meetings. RMC’s Administrator with Dy. Administrator and Health Officer
were present in the campaign.

15
only for discussing the problems related to SWM but for putting across issues related to
other infrastructural facilities. This would also attain homogeneity in level of cleanliness
across the entire ward. When PDCs function independently, then only parts where they
are functional would be cleaned. The role of these WDC can be anticipated to be more
effective during the ward committee election as per the 74th amendment of the
constitution. This election as per the RMC officials is going to be held in the near future
in the state of Jharkhand.

As per the information from NBJK, 11 ward committees have been constituted across 14
wards under CJP interventions. The meetings of these WDC are held regularly on a
monthly basis to get apprised with the problems of the community and plan out strategies
to solve them. Major role of Ward Committee is to:

Keep the RMC updated about the problems of the ward

Mobilize community support and co-operation in solving the problems of the ward
Liaison with other stakeholder on behalf of the community
Promote community level action for environment protection and SWM

6.8 Awareness
Over the years, both at national and
international level, it has been realised
that awareness is the key to motivate
people and make the efforts more
participative. Literacy in India is defined
at reading and writing capability, but this
does not necessarily imply understanding
of other facets, of which environmental
consciousness is a major one. Lately,
environment education has become a part
of the primary education system in many
states of India.
Figure 9: Awareness Rally
With a similar notion of environmental
awareness the CJP project started the SWM
initiative with a mass awareness campaign
among the citizens and the administrators
and also motivate them to perform their
role. The project was projected as a state
level campaign – ‘Clean Jharkhand Project’
rather than a city focused project (Clean
Ranchi), to gain immediate acceptability. In
the initial stage mass awareness through
road shows and street plays in Ranchi city,
chosen as the pilot case.
Figure 10: Street Play on SWM

16
Recently, NBJK has expanded the similar activities to other municipalities of the state
through workshops and seminar. ICEF funding has been important in making this move
ahead.

Awareness through mass campaigning has also been helpful in including various sections
of the society, which ensures effective participation It is a move towards sustainable
movement. Mass awareness activities have been carried out by the NBJK with the help of
published and electronic media, road shows etc. targeting communities, school children
especially, teachers etc. NBJK is now
targeting housemaids and servants, who
are the ones in charge of disposing
garbage from the house. A visit to the city
in recent times gives the mass evidence of
mass awareness campaigns. But, these
campaigns have not yet transformed into
real action. There is a long way to go to
achieve the desired level of cleanliness in
the city. Hence, much more than
awareness campaigns is required.
Figure 11: Road Show

NBJK holds regular press conferences every six months. Besides that, newsletter is also
being circulated across all the PDCs and schools. NBJK also releases its quarterly and
half yearly progress reports. It has also published articles and journals on waste from
health, bio-medical waste etc. A documentary on CJP also has been released reecntly.

Figure 12: Awareness among Children

Regular meetings are held with communities i.e. PDC, where community members and
representatives, RMC officials and NGO staff participate. These meetings largely focus
on issues related to SWM and other public services. The latter set of issues does not fall
under the purview of CJP, however, these issues also generally come up because
corporation officials are present there. Direct dialogue between the users and service
providers develops transparency in the system. It is also useful for reviewing the progress
17
and promoting the same across the city. One of the main objectives of this meeting is also
to empower the communities for establishing a sustainable system.

6.9 Capacity Building

One of the other main objectives of the project is to strengthen the present system in
terms of increasing the efficiency and capacity of the administration, NGO workers and
the community as well. This is done with a view to impart not only development of
further skills but also ensure effective
participation from the different actors
involved and motivate them for the
same. Infact, largely it can be seen as
synchronisation and preparedness for
the launch of the new initiative.
Capacity building is also required to
orient different actors towards the
concept of SWM, CJP methodologies
and objectives and also to bring
awareness regarding the newly framed
Supreme Court guidelines on MSW.
Figure 13: Capacity Building of Officials and PDC members

In this regard, the CJP has arranged capacity building programmes for actors in various
heirarchies. These were were not only limited to the NBJK but were also extended to
RMC officials and other municipalities in the state. With RMC, the workshops are
intended to share the experience and issues arising out of it.

CJP also arranged exposure visits for its

workers to other cities in India, where Box 4: Number of Capacity Building Session
innovative ways of MSW were organised under the CJP
emerging. Visits were made to Madurai
Safai Mitra - 20
(Karnataka), Bhadreshwar and Municipality - 17
Kacharapara Municipality of West Project team - 15
Bengal. PDC - 11

Following training is imparted to the Workshop/ Seminar - 15

project team: Exposure visits - 12

Record Keeping Training Source: NBJK

GIS Software Training
Budget Planning Workshop
Project Team Reflection Meeting

18
7 Financing Mechanism and Institution

ICEF is the main funding agency. Total funding for the project is Rs. 6.57 crores and the
project duration is 5 years. Funds are cleared on yearly basis but not allocated in equal
instalments. The CJP gets its funds as per the annual budget that is sanctioned which is
prepared on yearly basis. Annual Budget is made by SWM experts (including CJP and
ICEF officials) in a period of about 1 to 1.5 months time after having initial 4-5 rounds of
discussions. Out of the total annual budget, 25 per cent of money is kept for
administration purpose, which includes salary, office expenses, operation and
maintenance; and 75 per cent of money is kept for Project Expenses, which includes
awareness and other project expenses.

There is no other source of funding and the household contribution, which is Rs. 20 per
month remains an important source of funds from which salaries of safai mitras and
animators are paid. However, the collection ranges sometimes from Rs. 5 in some areas
to Rs. 35. The animator is paid 15 percent to 16 percent of the amount collected by him.
Each ward has 1 Animator and his/her job is to collect the contribution of Rs. 20 from
each household of the ward and submit it at CJP office. From there the safai mitras are
paid Rs. 1,820 on monthly basis. Wherever there is deficit the required money is taken
from the main funding. Money is deducted from safai mitras salary if he is not regular,
and incentives are rewarded upon his performance18.

As of now, the total collection from the city is to the tune of Rs. 3 lakhs per month. This
has grown from a meagre amount of Rs. 25,000. However, this amount is just sufficient
enough to meet the salary of the 160 safai mitras at the rate of Rs. 1,800 per month.
Various additional costs are associated while managing the solid waste such as purchase
of rickshaw trolley, which costs Rs. 5,000, and maintenance of it could be estimated at
Rs. 100 per month. Over the years the NGO has been striving to increase the collection so
as to atleast make the work of safai mitras sustainable. In case of shortage of funds
normally it is met from the project funds available from ICEF. Currently, wards 18, 26, 4,
10, 7 and 17 are working without any grants and the contribution from the wards is
sufficient enough to just meet the payments of safai mitras and other maintenance.
Table 5: User charge contribution under CJP
Particular Units Number
1) No. of HHs catered under CJP (in 16 wards*) no. 71,374
2) Estimated collection @ Rs 20/ HH/ month Rupees 14,27,480
3) Present collection (monthly) Rupees 3,00,000
4) Gap Rupees 11,27,480
5) Proportionate Collection of the estimated % 21
* Refer Wardwise households and population as per census 2001 in table 2.

18
In fact there are no female safai mitras working with the NBJK now.
19
Table 5 above gives an account of the user charge contribution under the CJP. It can be
seen that although almost 49 percent of the population (16 wards out of 37 wards) are
covered under CJP and 60 percent of the users contribute. However, the user charge
contribution in terms of absolute collection is only 21 percent. There is still a huge gap of
Rs 11.27 lakhs. This vitally reflects two important concerns; (i) either the number of
residents contributing is less than 60 percent stated (by the NGO) to be contributing (ii)
or as the contribution is less than Rs. 20 per household.

Other source of finance includes contribution by RMC in terms of providing

transportation facility to NBJK and payment to three other NGOs (recruited on
contractual basis). The corporation makes a payment of Rs. 1.5 lakhs monthly for 10
wards amounting to a monthly expenditure of Rs. 15 lakhs to these contractors. However,
the basis of this with reference to ward size is not known. Table 6 highlights expenditure
made by the corporation during the time period of 2003-05. As per the information from
the RMC officials, the corporation has a secured fund of Rs. 4.5 crore, which it intend to
spend on composting and other infrastructure related to SWM.

Table 6 also shows that around 55 percent of the total capital expenditure was incurred on
collection of waste and 44 percent on transportation. However, the detail break-up and
total RMC budget was not available, in the absence of which it is difficult to present a
detailed analysis of the finances of RMC with reference to SWM. Data available from the
website19 of RMC shows that the corporation generates revenues from property tax, rents
from municipal markets, professional tax and others. Corporation had collected Rs. 397
lakh from property tax out of total revenue of Rs. 513.00 lakh (77 percent) during the
year 2003-04.

Table 6: Expenditure made by RMC on SWM during 2003-05 (Rs in Lakh)

S. No.
Particulars Capital % age O&M
1 Collection 159.41 55
2 Transportation 129.48 44
3 Disposal 2.79 1
Total 291.68 100 45 436.68
Source: RMC

Infact the total internal resources of the corporation are not even adequate to meet the
expenses on the salary and wages, despite having hardly 700 sanitary staff in place of
necessary 2000 as per national norms. The all India20 average property tax is Rs. 150 per
capita per year, and therefore the income from property tax alone should have been Rs.
15.00 crores instead of present Rs. 4.00 crores. Coimbatore, a city of an almost equal
size, earns Rs. 32 crores only from property tax and has 2,254 sanitary staff. The Ranchi
Corporation is however, thinking on expanding its resources either by an increase in sales

19
http://ranchimunicipalcorporation.org/revenueSources.php.

20
Article in Hindustan Times dated 25th August 2004 by Administrator, RMC.
20
tax or introduction of toll tax to raise the present budget of Rs. 5.13 crores to Rs. 20
crores to Rs. 25 crores.

As per the discussion with RMC officials, the recovery of property tax is very weak.
Presently only 40 percent of the property tax is recovered, this leaves a heavy burden on
the corporation for making investment on infrastructure development. The corporation
has now introduced e-governance system as in other parts of India, but its results are still
to be seen. Various other taxes have not been revised since 1993. The corporation
presently is also striving to expand its boundaries and cross the ten lakh population
benchmark so as to have access to other state level funds.

Recently, the 12th Central Finance Commission21 has earmarked Rs 5000 crore in total
for all the municipalities of towns with population over 1 Lakh for the period of 2005-10.
However, this grant will not be available to RMC as the 74th CAA for formation of the
ward committees has not been executed by the State. Although the wards exist for the
purpose of management but there has not been any election of ward representatives,
which deprives them from receiving this grant.

As of now, all the drains (both major and minor) are open and are exposed to deposition
of silt and other waste. The technical studies for the above are in progress. It is presumed
that work on this would start soon somewhere in a year by the urban development
department. A preliminary survey has indicated that Rs. 350 crores will be required to
provide underground sewerage system, Rs. 18 crores for construction of roads, Rs. 20
crores for drains, Rs. 13 crores for providing street lights and Rs. 50 crores for other
public amenities22.

Table 7: Revenue and Expenditure of ULBs in the State of Jharkhand (Rs in crore)
Particular 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03
Total Revenue 12.29 17.64 13.94 51.95 26.43
Total Expenditure 7.83 20.98 24.17 136.93 120.09
Revenue/ Expenditure 1.57 0.84 0.58 0.38 0.22
Source: NIUA, (2005); Volume 8 No. 2 April-June.

Table 7, illustrates the financial picture of the ULBs in the Jharkhand State. Within a
span of 5 years the expenditures have increased 15 times but the corresponding rise in
revenues to support the system has just doubled. The income to expenditure ratio has
therefore declined significantly. Although, the source of additional revenues for
supporting relative expenditure is not known, perhaps these are met through grants and
loans. Such a situation raises issues of dependency and sustainability. It is however,
worth mentioning that the expenditure of ULBs in Jharkhand after becoming a separate

21
www.indiabudget.nic.in or in Economic Survey 2004-05.
22
Article in Hindustan Times dated 25th August 2004, RMC.

21
state in November 2000 has increased significantly i.e. from Rs. 24.17 crores to Rs.
136.93 crores, a six times increase.

A similar state Chattisgarh (dominantly tribal region), which was carved out from
Madhya Pradesh had total revenue as Rs. 281.67 crores and total expenditure as Rs.
265.91 crores during the period 2002-03 (NIUA, 2005).

8 System of Waste Collection, Transportation and Disposal

8.1 Overall City
As mentioned earlier the city of Ranchi has 37 wards. Out of these 37 wards the NGO
under the CJP project is handling 16 wards. The corporation has given 10 wards on
contractual basis to three other NGOs, where other NGOs for collection, lifting and
transportation of waste. Presently RMC is not paying anything to NBJK, like it pays to
the NGOs on contract. It only assists CJP in providing tractor and labour for lifting and
transportation of waste. Remaining wards are taken care of by the corporation itself.
Figure 14: Ward Adoption Meeting in Progress
Within a ward (where CJP is operational)
itself there are differentials because of non-
cooperation. Only the inner communities i.e.
those not residing on the arterial roads prefer
to be a part of the PDC. None of the
shopkeepers and informal sector on the main
roads is member of these PDC, which
eventually creates division within the ward
itself. This is because, the RMC cleans the
main roads and residents here do not want to
become members of PDCs so that they have
to pay. In such a case, the NGO performs its function only in the inner wards and the
main roads are catered for sweeping by the RMC staff. Normally, for this purpose
community dustbins are located both on the main roads and inside the neighbourhoods.

Initially when the CJP started, the NBJK was active only in one ward (ward number 7).
Gradually, the work was expanded to other wards. In the past two years itself the number
of wards under these projects has reached upto 16 and some of more are in the pipeline.
Before the starting of this project there were approximately 15 to 20 community-based
organisations (CBOs) in Ranchi. The presence of these CBOs enriched the effort of
formation of PDC. The NGO mobilized these CBOs towards SWM project. Altogether
there are 157 PDCs run by the NBJK. These CBOs where previously lacking the
accessibility to various resources, which after the formation of PDC and linkage with the
NGO are in a better position to bargain with the administration for various services.

22
CJP initiative starts with ward adoption, which is an agreement with the RMC for
implementing the concept of CBSWM. As per the agreement with RMC, the CJP deploys
safai mitras for door-to-door collection of waste while RMC provides their human
resource support along with their
equipments and vehicle. The requirement
of extra labour and equipment is borne by
the CJP. Once this is done the NGO forms
PDC (as explained in earlier session) and
draws plan with the corporation regarding
the waste lifting.

After the adoption of ward, massive

cleanliness drive is undertaken to clean
roads/streets/ drains/ other public places,
one day before the ward level meetings.
During this drive long accumulated
garbage on public places and blocked
drains are cleared out. RMC puts its staff
and equipment to the service of CJP. The
requirement of extra labour and equipment
is met by CJP. The cleanliness drive is
accompanied by awareness activities like
distribution of pamphlets, awareness by
cultural team and door-to-door contact to
inform the people about the project and
seek their participation.
Figure 15: Cleanliness Drive by CJP and RMC Staff Together

After the completion of cleanliness drive,

the system of regular cleaning is put in
place. Safai mitra along with a trolley and
other equipment is deployed for regular
collection of waste from doorstep,
sweeping of streets, roads and cleaning
drain periodically. Community has to pay
amount of Rs. 20 per month for the
services of waste collection and
cleanliness. One Animator is deployed in
each ward to collect these monthly
charges from the households.
Figure 16: Drain cleaning by safai mitra
The doorstep collection is carried out in the morning hours between 7 am to 11 am.
During this time period the safai mitra sweeps the internal neighbourhoods, cleans open
drains (this is done only once a month) and collects waste from each household, even
23
from those who are within the PDC area but not members of the PDC. Many areas in
Ranchi that are away from the main arteries are quite narrow. In the absence of dedicated
doorstep collection these waste would have accumulated in some negative spaces or
where the bins are placed. These narrow roads are however not big enough to
accommodate any tractor. Doorstep collection with the help of tricycles is therefore a
recommendable solution. Most of the roads are of PCC so it becomes easier to use a
tricycle. Community dustbins are not located inside these smaller streets but somewhere
in a corner or on a main road. In some wards where doorstep collection is not there, the
waste finds its place in the open drains, which are sometimes cleaned by the workers of
other NGOs on contract.
Figure 17: Doorstep collection and special cleanliness during Diwali festival

Figure 18: Collection of Waste from inside the community and from the main streets by
RMC.

Normally the doorstep collection is completed by 11 am upon which the RMC staff, as
per the direction of the NGO community coordinator and the supervisor, lifts the waste
from the community dustbin located at different points. Due to shortage of tractors, the
supervisor has to plan the number of trips to be made from different points depending
upon the quantity of garbage accumulated. Normally 2 to 3 trips are made regularly from
each of these wards. RMC has deployed both hydraulic and normal tractors for this
24
purpose. The lifted garbage is then transported in tractors or hydraulic dumpers to the
dumping site.

As of now, all the garbage of Ranchi city was dumped at a place known as ‘Mukaddam’,
which is actually surrounded by some housing societies. This site was long being used for
dumping but now due to foul spreading from it, this site is facing local protect. The
corporation has now shifted the dumping site to a place called ‘Zheeri’ which is located
almost 10 kms away from the city.

The new site has been selected by the RMC with the help of the Ranchi Regional
Development Authority (RRDA) and the urban development department. Infact the
location of landfill sites in general in India is not only governed by availability of space
(outside the urban limits) but also largely on account of the opposition of the people.
Technical feasibility and environmental impacts often gets unconsidered. The Supreme
Court guidelines therefore mention the location of landfill sites 20 kms away from the
urban areas. However, due to rapid urban expansion and proximity of rural areas the
distance gets diminished. Further any location is subjected to opposition given the fact
that there is no scientific treatment.

The site selected for Ranchi is undulating and has a rocky terrain; the corporation thus
feels that dumping of garbage and levelling it over the years would create flat land that
can be used later on. Nearby villages opposed the dumping site in their vicinity.
However, with the promise by NBJK to maintain the site it is presumed that the harmful
effects by waste disposal would be eradicated. The site as of now does not fall under the
norms of engineered landfill site. The dumping right now is done in a crude manner and
it’s levelled with mud.

Figure 19: The old dumping site and the new one

8.2 Details of Waste Management in Ward No. 18

Ward number 18 lies in the northern part of Ranchi city (Figure 4). The population of the
ward is 24,834 (as per census 2001). As per the rate of generation 0.247 kg/person/day,
the total amount of waste generated per day is to the tune of 6134 kg/day. The initiative
in the ward with reference to CJP project started in May 2003. The ward has around
4,460 households out of which presently work is going on with 1600 (36 percent)
households. Mostly lower and middle-income groups reside in this ward. Ward has
around 250 to 300 shops catering to local needs. Most of these shops being on the main
streets are not part of the initiative and do not contribute the user charges. Shopkeepers
25
and informal sector normally throw their garbage on the main street, which in the
morning is swept by the RMC staff. Thus, they think that they do not need to pay any
user charges. In many instances, the main streets become garbage dumpsites, when the
garbage is not picked up regularly. Thus, the whole system works in such a fashion that
inner localities are managed by the NGO which involves door to door collection of waste,
sweeping, cleaning of drains (once in a month) and the main roads in the ward are taken
care by the RMC. However, there is significant contrast in terms of cleanliness in the
inner areas and the main roads. The inner areas are cleaner than the artery roads.

Figure 20: The main roads maintained by RMC and the inner roads by NGO

There are three slum pockets with an estimated population of 800 households of which
presently around 500 households receive this service. Their contribution ranges from Rs.
5 to Rs. 30 per month per household. These slum pockets participate generously in the
movement and believe that atleast through this initiative they are receiving some service.

The ward also has around 10 institutions mainly schools and around four small
dispensaries and a hospital. Some schools do not pay any user charges. NBJK has
installed compost dustbins, which are utilised for throwing tiffin waste. In the past, NBJK
has also organised awareness programmes in this schools.

Presently, there are 16 PDCs in the ward of which 1 is sustainable PDC23. The number of
safai mitras engaged in sweeping and door-to-door collection are 16, which means one
safai mitra per PDC. 1 supervisor administers these 16 safai mitras. Each of these safai
mitra is provided with a rickshaw trolley (costing around Rs. 5000). Animator is
responsible for collection of charges. The animator is paid 15 percent to 16 percent of the
total collection made from the ward. Presently around 75 percent of the households

23
Where the PDC is able to purchase the rickshaw cycle on their own and are able to manage the waste on
their own in a sustainable manner.
26
contribute towards user charges. The total monthly collection from this ward is Rs.
25,000. RMC has provided 1 Jamadar, 4 workers for road sweeping, and 1 driver with
three workers for lifting garbage. Altogether, in this ward, there are 29 personals directly
engaged in managing waste.

Figure 20: The garbage collection point inside the community and on the main road (top);
Spraying of fumicides in open drain (below left); Morning attendance session in the ward
(below right).
There are four collection points in the ward (Map in Annexure 1), one on the main street
and three at different places in the locality. The garbage collected from each household is
brought at this collection from where it is lifted by the RMC staff under the supervision
of NGO supervisor. The RMC has deployed 1 tractor of 3 tonnes capacity. The tractor is
said to make 2 to 3 trips daily. NBJK pays special incentive to the RMC driver and staff
(Rs. 25) for making additional trips if required.

Every morning the work starts at 6 o’clock with the attendance of the safai mitras. The
photograph in Figure 20 shows the attendance session where the community co-ordinator,
supervisor, RMC’s Jamadar, safai mitras and animator are present. The safai mitras leave
for door-to-door collection and also carry out the street sweeping. The RMC workers also
carry out street sweeping parallely, but only on the main roads. Apart from door-to-door
collection of waste, the safai mitra is responsible for cleaning of drains and spraying
fumicides in the open drains. However, the cleaning of drains is done only once a month.
While the safai mitras carry their work, the supervisor keeps a watch on them and visits
27
various places in the ward. This is done to report daily at the office and prepare a daily
report on the status of the work done. The daily report includes:

a) attendance of the safai mitras

b) no. of trips made by the RMC tractor
c) amount of collection done
d) vehicle repair and maintenance
e) no. of complaints received and the reasons
f) no. of complaints addressed
g) no. of new members added in the PDC

For each of the above activities there is a structured format24 and all information
regarding this is available in this. Based on the daily reports, weekly and subsequently
monthly and tri-monthly reports are prepared. For each day there is an action plan
prepared based on the day’s performance and the complaints received. NBJK has also
prepared thematic maps of the PDC and the wards as the detailed ward are not available
with RMC.

The shortfalls of and gains from this system are:

a) The collection points are often seen with spill-over of garbage. The reason from these
being residents who are not a part of this project or PDC tends to throw garbage at any
time of the day, which then remain unclean throughout the day.
b) An area where the NGO is operating appears cleaner than that maintained by the RMC
staff.
c) In the whole ward only 60 percent of the households are ready to contribute for the
service, which leaves rest 40 percent with enjoying the service free of cost. They are
also not co-operating with the present system. In terms of proportionate collection
only 21 percent is achieved (Table 4).
d) Residents and shopkeepers on the street on the main streets do not co-operate in
doorstep collection, which leaves a lot of garbage thrown during night hours on the
street.
e) One crucial point is the members of the PDC or from whom doorstep collection takes
place are only those who pay the service charge (Rs. 20 per month/ household). If in a
locality a large proportion of population does not cooperate then, large areas have to
be covered by the RMC. Further, since main streets are used by all and it does not
become responsibility of few households to keep them clean, the RMC has taken the
responsibility of cleaning them. But, the RMC only sweeps the streets but does not
engage in doorstep collection, which results in waste accumulation on the streets.
f) Another striking feature is source segregation of waste has not been implemented.
NBJK says that this would not be possible “unless and until doorstep collection is
successful and inculcated in the habit of the residents, efforts regarding segregation of
waste would not be fruitful. Secondly, proper utilization of segregated waste is also

24
Formats of each of these have been attached as annexure
28
 important”. NBJK has started vermi-composting but it’s facing threats from the local
people.
g) Wherever the doorstep collection of waste has been implemented, it has helped in
diverting a lot of waste from reaching the open drains. Drains are presently cleaned
only once in a month. It is still required that these open drains are cleaned frequently
as there is silt deposition and at many places in the ward due to absence of septic tank
and proper sanitation facility drains are exposed to open defecation.
h) Due to shortage in infrastructure (tractors) number of trips made are less, as the tractor
has to be deployed judicially in the whole ward and other places too.
i) NBJK has been successful in mobilizing the already existing community groups
towards SWM. Most of these individuals form the community groups for recruiting
security personnel.
j) Over the years NBJK has also been successful in expanding its efforts in terms of
increasing number of PDC within this ward. When it started its operation there was
only 1 PDC; within a span of 2 years there are 16 PDCs.
k) The contribution towards SWM has also increased with the increase in number of
PDCs. Presently, the monthly amount collected from this ward alone is Rs. 25,000,
which is itself 8 percent of total collection made from the whole city.

8.3 Composting and Recycling

Rapid growth in quantum of waste generation and increasing scarcity of land availability
makes the land filling a non-viable option in long run. Moreover, scientific land filling is
a costly affair and it significantly reduces the cost effectiveness of SWM. Thus, reduced
waste generation or resource recovery would help in reducing land requirements for
dumping. Resource recovery emphasises recovering usable products from the waste,
thereby generating resources to bring financial sustainability to the process.

CJP proposed the following for resource

recovery:

To promote centralised and

decentralised composting
Segregation of compostable,
recyclable, re-usable material thereby
reducing the quantum was for final
dumping
Identification and promotion of
recycling options
Figure 21: Vermicomposting Unit at Chuttu in Ranchi

As a part of Resource Recovery Division, a centralised composting plant at village

Chuttu in Kanke block of Ranchi district has been established in April 2004 on 5 acres of
land acquired on lease for Rs 50,000 per year for duration of 5 years from the
corporation. It is 14 kms from Ranchi. The resource recovery component of CJP proposes
to utilise the resource generation potential of waste and reduce environmental and health
29
hazards by promoting appropriate techniques and methodologies in handling of waste at
various levels. This site for composting initially had faced a lot of local protests due to
garbage trucks polluting the surrounding areas. However, after consultation and proper
routing and management the composting was started.

The compost yard has a capacity of 10,000 MTs of MSW on annual basis. Presently only
50 percent of the capacity is utilized i.e. out of 5 acre of land only 2 acre is under use.
The vermi-composting plant capacity is 240 MT to 260 MT per annum and is producing
192 MT of compost annually. The length and the width of the unit is 199 m by 105 m.
Proper layout of the plot has been done to ensure proper sequencing of the dumped waste.

Waste is recycled using two methods, one is Vermi-composting and other is through
spraying of inoculums such as Effective Microbes solution and Cow dung slurry.
Normally compost requires 70 days for its formation, however the process is delayed if
waste received is not in segregated form, which therefore results another 8 to 10 days for
separation.

The price of sieved manure is Rs. 3 per kg while non-sieved is Rs. 2 per kg for local
farmers. The manure is sold both in retail and wholesale for which the rates are different.
Mostly farmers are the main bulk buyers. Apart from them manure is also purchased by
horticulturist and for gardens. The market for manure also varies with rains.

8.3.1 Community Development Approach in Processing

In order to involve the local community nearby a processing unit and ensure their
participation and promoting sense of belongingness towards the unit like, activities have
been planned. These activities are:

Health Camps and Immunization Camps

Event “Green Chuttu” organised with the objective to increase the vegetation cover of
the village and keep the surroundings of processing unit clean and healthy.
Saplings plantation
Meeting with SHGs of the villages
Training of youth on nursery raising and other organic farming methods
Construction of soak pit and low cost toilets on demonstration basis
Repairs of existing social infrastructures like hand pump and well platform
Awareness generation through pamphlets, slogan writing and talk show on
environment at primary school

8.3.2 RMC Tractor Drivers Meet to regularize MSW transport to Composting

Plant
To manage the waste especially the vegetable market waste, CJP entered into an
agreement with RMC, according to which, RMC shall supply the specified waste up to
the processing unit while CJP will process the waste to convert it into compost.

30
However, due to unsystematic and irregular waste collection and transportation system of
RMC, the composting plant could not receive the required quantity of garbage on right
time. This adversely affected the production of compost. It was found that the main
reason was due to irregular trip by tractor drivers. Therefore, it was decided to sensitise
the Tractor Driver on the issue of SWM.

RMC Tractor Driver Meet was held to make them aware of the need of SWM and
importance of compost preparation from waste so as to educate them to transport the
MSW to composting plant on regular basis. CJP proposed to take up the task of capacity
building of Tractor Drivers so as to make them efficient and regular which would further
help in overall management of MSW and thus getting back the confidence of the people
in RMC which they were loosing. They were shown video films on different aspects of
garbage management in different cities. The information about Chuttu Composting Plant
was shared. They were told that the plant is established to prepare compost from garbage.
The resultant compost is effective in increasing fertility of land without any side effect.

During discussion on waste lifting and transportation, many facts came out which were:

Fear among municipal staff that they may end up loosing their job due to CJP
involvement in cleaning work
Resentment among staff on NGOs being given large sum of money for undertaking
cleanliness work in 4 wards of Ranchi. They said that the real cost is far lower than
what is being given to them. The additional money should have been spent on salary
and welfare of municipal staff.
Regarding lifting of garbage from Daily Market, they said it was under the jurisdiction
of NGO, why they should lift garbage from there if NGO is paid for the same.

However they appreciated the CJP for cleaning work without claiming any money from
RMC. They also said that NGOs are doing many good works for social development and
requested CJP to do something for the welfare of RMC staff.

As a part of the initiative, the tractors, which were defunct, or were having problems,
were repaired on war basis so that they were able to work at nighttime also. CJP also
announced some incentive and welfare scheme for RMC staff, such as:

Group Insurance for RMC staff to provide social security to them and their family.
The cost of premium was to be shared among RMC, Staff and CJP in ratio of
50:30:20.
Organisation of Health Camp where health check-up and medicine were provided free
of cost.
Cash Voucher of Rs. 25 to truck driver for each trip of MSW to Chuttu Processing site
which could be en-cashed in NBJK office.

31
8.3.3 Market Waste Channelization
To channelize the market waste collection, a survey was carried out by Resource
Recovery Division of CJP to assess the quantum of waste generated from main market
places of Ranchi in the month of the May 2004. Objective of the survey was to ensure
availability of quantity waste to compost processing plant.

One of the finding was that polymer waste could be used in road construction. This
technology has been developed by Thiagrajan College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil
Nadu. In this process, 10 percent of waste polymer by weight is used in laying 1 km by
3.75 m of road. Waste polymer is first shredded by shredding machine up to size 4.75
mm to retaining 2.36 mm. The aggregate is heated, when it reaches the temperature of
150-160 degree C, it is poured on the polymer coated aggregate. Thus prepared mixture is
ready for laying the road. This process can be done using mini hot mixing or central
mixing plant. The salient feature of polymer mix bitumen road is that it increases road
strength one hand and reduces the cost of road laying per km. This has been done on an
experimental basis as of now and is in the negotiations with the road and construction
department.

9 Infrastructure

The RMC has a staff of only 700 workers, which includes 500 main Safai workers and
200 others including peons etc. There has been no new recruitment in the department
since 1971 (as told by the RMC officials). Hence the system of waste collection, street
cleaning, and waste lifting has been given away to the Safai Mitras of NGOs like NBJK,
Creative International, Express Sewa Sanstha, Nirmal Bharat etc.

Regarding the ownership of vehicles, there are total 44 tractors owned by the RMC,
which cater to 16 wards of the city where NBJK is working. This includes 12 tractors
which are kept for emergency purpose and carrying water. Each ward is given 1 tractor
and each tractor has 1 driver and 3 labourers employed by the RMC. Each NBJK
supervisor is given one tractor and it is the responsibility of the supervisor to give
detailed scheduling of trips to be made by these drivers one day in advance, as to where
and when driver has to collect the waste from the collection point and how many trips he
has to make within a day. NBJK provides one vehicle to each of their ward supervisor.
Presently 139 hand trolleys are being run covering 27,000 households and catering the
need of 125,000 people.

10 Innovation in Practice

Innovation in the Project is with regards to its management strategies. The following
innovative management strategies are observed in this project:

a. Community Involvement and Ownership - The project intends to make it an initiative

for the people and of the people to make sure that beneficiaries are meaningfully involved
in planning and implementation.
32
b. Partnership Building - The project seeks participation and assistance from various
sectors and this would only result when a true partnership is built between various
stakeholders and their Capacity Based Support is available in a barrier free environment.

c. Capacity Building - The team by conducting various periodic sessions on SWM issues
would involve the community and its related stakeholders in its endeavour.

d. Other Issues - The project also addresses cultural sensitivity needs, establishing
working group relations, development of MIS options, keeping track of development
targets, complying with ICEF norms and lastly replicating mechanism for wider
dissemination.

11 Sustainability

The Clean Jharkhand Project (CJP) started as a result of funding from the ICEF (Rs. 6.57
crores for a duration of 5 years). RMC with its scare resources (Rs. 5.13 crores annual)
assist in lifting of garbage. The CJP project is aimed at increasing awareness across state
(with a pilot project in Ranchi) to bring sustainability once the funding is over. To bring
about these efforts, NBJK started PDC formation and introduced user charge (Rs. 20 per
month per household) for the doorstep collection. Starting with just ward number 7, the
NGO has expanded this initiative to 15 other wards in the city. The increasing
contribution (from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 3 lakhs) from the households reflects an increasing
consciousness towards the system and environment.

The awareness programmes across communities and in schools, capacity building of both
RMC and internal staff, alliances with other public bodies has perhaps been helpful in
expanding the platform and building up relationship for future. The project duration itself
(2002-2007), which is of five years, would help in inducing various habits both among its
users and its administrators.

However, inspite of all this efforts sustainability remains a question as:

a) Currently the money recovered from the citizen’s contribution is only able to meet the
salary of the safai mitras; in many wards in case of less collection the additional
payments are made from the project funds. The salaries of supervisor, coordinator and
other administrative staff are still made from the project funds. So from where would
the SWM initiative meet the funds once the ICEF funding is over?
b) The collection of user charges shows an increase from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 3 lakh per
month now. However, in many of the wards people do not even contribute the
required Rs. 20 per month charge. Consistency of the user pay charge itself is a
question in absence of a defined system from the municipal administration.
c) From the discussions with the NBJK, one could gather that it is thinking of various
options and models to sustain its efforts. Of late, there is a discussion about
developing an entrepreneurship model, where the supervisor themselves would be
33
 managing the whole ward or PDC. However, this model is only successful when the
collection efficiency is at its peak and there is substantial support from the RMC both
financially and institutionalizing the system.
d) Currently, the RMC assists the CJP project only in terms of lifting and transporting the
garbage, however during the course of this project (ICEF funding from 2002-07) the
corporation has almost been subsidized from making any contribution through
finances or labour. It would be worth noting that since 1971 there has been no new
recruitment in the corporation and infact the position of the sanitary inspectors is still
vacant. With a mere existing budget resource of Rs. 5.13 crores it is questionable
whether the RMC would have
sufficient resources to sustain the
efforts established by this project.
Over the years (i.e. from 2002) the
RMC has been continuously
transferring its responsibility to the
NGOs by contracting out the
wards. In fact a more proactive role
of corporation is required when the
project has just one year to go.
Figure 22: Waste accumulation beside the Grave Ground of Birsa Munda

12 Beneficiary Participation:

Initiative by CJP is quite different from other CBSWM where the initiation comes from
the community. The NGO here has mobilized the already existing (few) groups as well as
created new community organisations towards these initiatives by organising awareness
programmes. The level of participation that exists is quite service oriented, in the sense,
residents contribute in terms of money and garbage delivery. At present only 60 percent
of the people in a ward contribute Rs. 20 towards SWM. Rest 40 percent who do not
contribute and still receive the doorstep collection service from the safai mitras.
Segregation of waste is still not practiced. Ultimate segregation is done only at the
disposal site by the ragpickers because of economic reason. Those who pay send in their
complaints of inefficiency, which has infact increased the accountability in the system as
the user and the provider are in direct interaction.

The situation differs in wards where other NGOs are working and no contribution is
taken as RMC pays them completely. In case of any problem, these residents have to
complaint to the RMC, which is a lengthy procedure. It was also discovered during the
field visit that shopkeepers and informal vendors on the main arterial roads do not
contribute towards the service charges as a result of which they are not a part of the PDC
or the CJP initiative. Most of the hoteliers sell their garbage to pig-raring communities in
the city and the rest of the garbage is thrown either on the road or in the municipal
dustbin during night hours. Scientific treatment of bio-medical waste has still a long way
to go, as the common treatment facilities do not exist adequately in the state. This is also

34
coupled with a lack of an institutional framework for organising the waste treatment
under a common platform.

As per the discussion with the NGO, women in general participate generously in the CJP
movement. The NGO is utilising this opportunity of mobilizing especially the women, as
they are the ones who mainly deal with the household waste. In terms of participation
from different groups within a community slum population are more generous in making
contribution towards SWM as compared to other ones. But, the sustainable25
communities (or the PDCs) are mostly those of higher middle class society. This is
generally because inspite of small groups they have higher paying capacity which covers
the salary of the safai mitra and the cost of the rickshaw trolley.

13 Upscalling

The project initiative “Clean Jharkhand Project” with Ranchi as a pilot case study, itself
sends across of a message of management of municipal waste across state level. The
project intends to replicate the efforts and learning’s of Ranchi in other ULBs in the state.
At the pilot level i.e. in Ranchi, the NGO has expanded its working to 16 wards out of
total 37 wards within a span of 3 years. The NGO started with Ranchi as a pilot case
study and the initiative on ground started with a PDC. As of now the number of PDCs has
reached 157 in number. Perhaps, similar upscalling is not noticed where other NGOs are
working. Infact the corporation is not satisfied with the work of the other contractual
NGOs. Thus, a few of these wards are now awarded to the NBJK.

Table 8: Replication in Ranchi and in other ULBs

Particular Ranchi Hazaribagh Jhumri Tilalya
Ward 15* 4 2
PDC 149 8 5
Household 29,427 1,460 896
Source: NBJK (Presentation made at the Bhopal Workshop).
* Recently a new ward has been added. The number of PDCs has also increased to 157 in
Ranchi.

In terms of replication in other ULBs, the NGO has extended similar initiative in
Hazaribagh and Jhumri Tilalya. In Hazaribagh Municipality the CJP initiative started in
December 2003 (NBJK, 2004), with an awareness campaign and cleanliness drive.
Doorstep collection with a similar system like in Ranchi is observed in 4 wards by
forming 8 PDCs (Table 8). As per NBJK, the organisation itself has constructed 4 large
dustbins and has installed 76 drums and 4 plastic dustbins. Similar alliance has been
established with Jhumri Tilalya, Griridh and Medininagar Municipalities by involving the
special programme officer of Municipality and Commissioner of the District. The
Medininagar Municipality is on its way to launch this concept. Similar replication is

25
Presently there are four sustainable PDC in the city of Ranchi viz., Kozi Corner Society, Residency
Estate Apartments, Bank Colony and Viber Porish Colony
35
intended in all other municipalities of Jharkhand. The project has not only been helpful in
entering partnership with these municipalities but intends to develop networks with other
NGOs too in other cities. It has also entered in vermi-composting, the work for which has
already started with the assistance of the authorities.

14 Future Plans:

While the CJP is for duration of 5 years (2002-07), the NGO (NBJK) has proposed some
future strategies to make the initiative sustainable. Apart from achieving sustainability in
system, as discussed above, the NGO is planning to establish a research and
documentation center which would not only include the experience of CJP but also SWM
practices in other parts of the country, so as to provide accessibility to different interest
group. The NGO is also in the process of extending the concept of Ranchi in other parts
of India in alliance with other ULBs or NGOs from the local place.

With regards to future goals of RMC, it intends to increase its financial resource base, so
as to become more pro-active in implementing infrastructural projects. The corporation,
as mentioned earlier, is also planning to expand its municipal boundaries, which will lead
to an increase in population for accessing special grants and funds from the state
government. With reference to accessibility of funds from the centre (12th finance
commission), the state would be executing the 74th amendment of the constitution for
creating a third tier of government. Presently, the corporation does not have any plans
with reference to its involvement once CJP is over.

15 Overall scenario and Findings

Overall infrastructure development will be a major focus as Jharkhand is a newly formed

state with Ranchi as its capital city. The state presently does not have any vision plan for
the development. It is likely that the CJP due to its rigorous 5-year intervention would be
helpful in laying a strong base for environment concern when a vision plan is made. The
long duration (5 years) of the project would also be helpful in inculcating the habit of
proper waste management both among the citizens and the administration.
Figure 23: Eutrophication of Lake (left); A garbage tractor stuck due to bad road (right)

36
Cleanliness of the city is not only important from the point of health and hygiene and
attracting investment (as in other cities)
but in case of Ranchi it is also important
as it was known as summer capital of
Bihar. Currently, in Ranchi three different
mechanisms are working parallely
towards this:

a) One is the CJP project, which is based

on funding from external agency and
corporation is just assisting in lifting
and transporting but not paying
anything to contractor. This
relationship is more regarded as NGO
working as a non-profit making
agency.
b) Secondly, where the corporation has
contracted out wards to NGOs, which
is infact is a situation of the NGO
being treated as a contractor like a
private sector.
c) And thirdly where the corporation is
working on its own.

Figure 24: Lake Development by RMC

The three different structures simultaneously create three different situations. In the first
case, there is a concern as to whether community organisations would continue to
participate to the same extent or increased manner and whether there would be any
proactiveness from the corporation to upscale and support such efforts. In the second
case, performance of the contractor is a concern given that it does not contribute to the
social and environmental cost of the work. Infact, privatisation of SWM in this manner is
becoming a popular model amongst most of the municipal bodies, because of
comparatively lower cost of operation by the contractors while relatively improving the
waste management system as compared to before. In the third case, the details of the
level of cleanliness are not known. The issue however is, can corporation provide better
service to the city given the situation of scare financial, human and machine resources.

Presently, the city of Ranchi cannot be regarded as cent percent clean. Areas under the
operation of the NBJK are having doorstep collection and subsequent removal of garbage
by the RMC, inspite of the garbage found lying near the community dustbins due to
inadequate support by the people and inadequate infrastructure. The system still needs an

37
institutional support26 both for fining those who do not abide by the rules and
institutionalising itself, through ‘polluter pays’ system.

Areas that are under the supervision of NGOs on contractual basis do not resemble the
NBJK areas. Doorstep collection does not seem to be implemented as most of the waste
finds its place in the open drains. No awareness initiatives have taken up to mobilize the
people. Perhaps there also exists indifference on the account that the NGO on contractual
basis do not charge any money to residents while the NBJK does. Infact the participation
and response of the people in the two different communities is very different. People are
more proactive in the case where they pay user charges. Regular conversation and
complaints regarding the service was noticed during the field visit in such wards. In fact
this also reflects the level of accountability and responsiveness that is created by the user
pay charge system.

The CJP initiative of formation of PDC and WDC in entire Ranchi region is the first
agenda while starting the cleanliness drive. This ensures an active participation of the
community not only in cleanliness but also in dealing with various other facets of urban
development. The CJP is usually termed as community based SWM, strikingly this is
quite different from other places such as in Chennai where the community groups
approach the NGO i.e. Exnora for assisting in SWM. In Ranchi the citizen participation is
more in terms formation of a group and agreeing towards payment for the service being
provided by the NGO and the RMC (Rs. 20 per month per household). Initially when the
project was started the NGO approached the members of the community towards
formation of PDC. Later on this was translated into WDC (comprising of different PDC).

It is necessary to mention that this initiative would not have possibly if the funding from
the ICEF were not there, also even if the NGO would not have approached the funding
agency for the very purpose. It is an irony that the NGO (NBJK) could procure funds for
SWM activity, which the municipal corporation could not inspite of SWM being latter’s
mandatory function. Secondly, the NGO has also been to certain extent successful in
establishing the user pay charge system, which is an acknowledged effort in the current
discussions on SWM.

The city of Ranchi has been divided into wards for ease of management; however the
implementation of the 74th amendment for the formation of third tier government i.e. the
ward committee and its representatives is still to be seen. The formation of PDC and
WDC as a part of CJP, which is a community-based initiative with active participation of
the citizens, has already laid the foundation for the effective implementation of the 74th
amendment. Perhaps, the present system still faces uncertainties once the amendment is
implemented.

26
Recently the helmet-wearing rule was made compulsory in the city of Ranchi and the rule is being
followed explicitly across the city. The point to note here is that a government can exercise its power
for bringing common good to the society.
38
[The research has been carried out under Shastri Applied Research Project (SHARP), ‘Urban
Governance and Environmental Management: Action Oriented Policies Studies on Waste
Management in Jabalpur & Raipur’. We acknowledge financial support of Shastri Indo-Canadian
Institute (SICI).]

References
National Institute of Urban Affairs (2005): Urban Finance, Vol.8, No. 2, April-June.

Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra (2004): Clean Jharkhand Project – Half Yearly Report,
submitted to India Canada Environment Facility, Ranchi.

Singh, Ravindra Kumar and R. C. Sinha (n.d.), “Jharkhand Ek Parichaya” (Introduction

to Jharkhand), Gyan Bharati Publication, Ranchi.

39
Annexure 1

40
The School of Planning Working Paper Series
1. "Compressed Natural Gas Plan for Public Transport in Ahmedabad", by
Shivanand Swamy H.M., Chittranjan K.V. and Naidu Pasala S.S.
2. "Towards Improved Protection of Housing Consumers: Need for
Amending the Consumer Act?” by Sangwan Sharmishtha and Mahadevia
Darshini, 1996.
3. "Comparative Environmental Risk Assessment of Ahmedabad City", by
Ray C.N., June 1996.
4. "The Process of Environmental Management Plan Development in
Ahmedabad:, by Ray C.N. and Moga Josh, December 1996.
5. "Urban Poor: The case of the rickshaw Pullers of Dhaka, Bangladesh", by
Ray C.N. and Jalal Jennifer, January 1997.
6. "The Auto rickshaw Service in Ahmedabad", by Patel Vatsal and Ray C.N.
February 1997.
7. "Health Care System for Urban Poor in Ahmedabad", by Harode Dinesh,
Ray C.N. and Mehta Rajesh, June 1997.
8. "Liberalisation and Urban Real Estate: Case of Mumbai", by Mahadevia
Darshini and Singh Charanjeet, July 1998.
9. “Strategy for Hospital Waste Management A Case Study of Ahmedabad”,
by Dr. C.N. Ray, Dr.Bashir Ahmadi and Mr. Arvind Kumar Singh, July 1998.
10. “Citizens Charter in India: An Overview” by Dr. C.N.Ray, 1999.
11. “Forest Management Strategy: The issue of Joint Forest Management in
India , by Dr. C.N. Ray, Nov –1998.
12. “Investment Climate in Orissa and Policy Guidelines for Development”,
by Rout, Piyush Ranajn, Mehta, S.S, June 1999.
13. “Natural Disaster in Eastern Coast of India the Super Cyclone in Orissa”,
by Dr. C.N.Ray, Rout. Piyush Ranjan, Dec, 1999.
14. “Management of Municipal Solid Waste Issues and Emerging Options for
Urban Environment Managers in Developing Countries”, by C.N.Ray, S.
Bandyopadhyay, Piyush Ranjan Rout, February, 2000.
15. “An Enquiry in to Environmental Quality Assessment: A case Study of
Ankleswar Industrial Estate,” by Mona Vyas, Anjana Vyas, March, 2000.
16. “Factors Affecting Utilisation of Primary Health Care Centres in Rural
areas: A micro level study of PHC Por, Taluka Vadodara”, By Preeti Shroff,
Dr.Shrawan Acharya, April, 2000.
17. “Strategic Plan for the Privatisation of Public Transport in
Thruvananthapuram City”, by Talat Munshi, Deepti Vijayan, 2000
18. “Development Control, Building Regulation and Judicial Activism in
Gujarat”, by Dr.C.N.Ray, January, 2001.
19. Earthquake relief and rehabilitation in Gujarat: Issues in Disaster
Management, by Dr.C.N.Ray, June 2001.
20.The Changing Scenario in the Garment Industry of India: Case Study of
Ahmedabad, by Ms.Ruchi Khurana, Dr.C.N. Ray, Dr. Jeemol Unni, June, 2002.
21. Solid Waste Management in Ahmedabad, By Dr.C.N.Ray, August, 2002.
22. Sustainability of innovative financing of urban infrastructure: Case study
of Ahmedabad and Vadodara, by Ms. Arunima Mukherjee and Dr. Darshini
Mahadevia, October, 2002.
23. Autonomous Development Council as a Spatial Planning Unit in India: A
case study of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, by Vimal Khawas and
Shrawan Kr. Acharya, April 2003.
24. Structure and Recent Changes in Health Care System in India, by
Dr.C.N.Ray, June, 2003.
25. Trend of Urbanization and Its Impact On the Riverine and Riparian
Environment: A Case of Pune City, by Subhrangsu Goswami and Dr.
C.N.Ray,August 2003.
26. Urban Governance for Sanitary Waste Management Services in Jabalpur,
by Gaurav V. Jain, Dr. Darshini Mahadevia, and Dr. C.N.Ray, January 2005.
27. The TAWA Reservoir Fisheries Management: Experiences and Options,
by Amalendu Jyotishi and R. Parthasarathy, February, 2005.
28. Development and Maintenance of Public Gardens in Ahmedabad, by
Dr.C.N.Ray and Ajaykumar S. Sanghvi, February, 2005.
29. Infrastructure Development in Cities of China: Case of Beijing, by
Darshini Mahadevia, March 2005.
30. Revitalizing Inner Districts of Bejing, by, Shrawan Kr. Acharya, April,
2005.
31. Sustainable rural development: Traditional knowledge and institutional
system, by Shrawan Kr. Acharya, August 2005.
32. Recent Changes in Urban Management: E-Governance initiative by the
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, by C.N.Ray, P. Panneervel, and Paresh
Patel, November 2005.
33. State, Development and Disaster Response: Disaster Management Bill
2005, by C.N.Ray, December 2005.
34. Local Government Led Solid Waste Management in a Metropolis –
Hyderabad-Secunderabad, by Darshini Mahadevia and Manish Pathak,
December 2005.
35. New Practices of Waste Management – Case of Mumbai, by Darshini
Mahadevia, Bela Pharate and Amit Mistry, December 2005.
36. Waste Management and Sanitary Services in Raipur, by Shrawan Kr.
Acharya and Vivekanand Gupta, December 2005.
37. Managing Waste in the Urban Periphery: Case of Vejalpur Nagarpalika
in Ahmedabad Urban Agglomeration, by Shrawan Kr. Acharya and Appeeji
Parasher, December 2005.
38. Local Government Led Solid Waste Management in a Small Town –
Suryapet, by Darshini Mahadevia and Manish Pathak, December 2005.