100 garbage vehicles bought by Bareilly civic body ‘break down within 2 yrs’

Bareilly: At least 100 e-rickshaws procured by Bareilly Municipal Corporation (BMC) for door-to-door garbage collection have allegedly broken down within two years of purchase, disrupting waste-lifting operations across the city, officials said Friday.The civic body claimed that the vehicles were purchased on Sept 23, 2024, at a cost of Rs 1.9 crore following approval from municipal commissioner and a divisional-level committee. The e-rickshaws were subsequently handed over to collection agencies which reported recurring technical issues.According to officials, Faridabad-based supplier failed to fulfil contractual obligations, including deploying an on-site technician and providing service support for more than two years. Reported defects include poor battery performance with vehicles running only two to three hours on a full charge, malfunctioning relays and electricity converters, and leakages in hydraulic oil chambers.A show-cause notice has been issued to the firm. "If the company fails to respond within the stipulated time, the security deposit will be forfeited, steps will be taken to blacklist the firm on the GeM portal and an FIR may be lodged," said Rajeev Kumar Rathi, executive engineer (tourism), BMC.Municipal commissioner Sanjeev Kumar Maurya told TOI that the supplier had not honoured its commitments. "The promises they made were unfulfilled," he said.However, Arvind Kumar, sales manager of the supplying company, disputed the allegations. "A company representative found that parts were missing and that the vehicles had not been properly maintained. The e-rickshaws were given on contract to an agency that did not handle them carefully, resulting in the breakdowns," he said.Maurya maintained that parts were already missing when the issue came to light and added that the vendor had borne the cost of repairs carried out so far.