The New Tender for Garbage Contract

Dear All,

Last month, the Institute floated a new 'Garbage' tender for the 'Manual' cleaning of all roads along with all kinds of garbage collection (including door-to-door). Just two years ago, the same work had been tendered for a fully 'mechanised' work contract, evidence for which has been the monstrous truck we've seen on our roads every morning and the various fancy machines 'cleaning' the corridors in the academic area. Of course, most of the actual work has continued to be done manually, but by workers hired on a completely adhoc basis without being part of any contract. And now, suddenly, the Institute has decided to formally go back to fully manual cleaning of the entire campus. Be it two years ago, or now, there is no explanation or justification for these arbitrary changes in how cleaning is to be done on our campus. Considering how critical this service is, one would expect that feedback from users and workers would be taken in making such decisions, but this is clearly not the case. Instead, not only are work definitions changed arbitrarily from manual to mechanical and back again, but there is no attention paid to the costs incurred in the process, be it in terms of workers and their working conditions, financial implications, or environmental impact.

In the attached report, we have compared the two tender documents in a brief analysis and shared our concerns regarding these arbitrary tendering processes. It is important that we understand what is happening in our names and hold the Institute accountable.

Hamara Manch

Nov. 2024