Shortage of dustbins hits clean Visakhapatnam image

Visakhapatnam: Lack of sufficient dustbins and dumpsters at regular intervals in the city has been severely hitting the ‘clean city’ image of Vizag. Due to the shortage of bins, the garbage is seen either discarded on the streets or spilling on to the pavements from the overflowing bins in various locations.

“There seems to be  a shortage of dumper bins in the city. But in many pockets of the city, people don’t discard the refuse into designated disposal bins or hand it over to the door-to-door collection staff. This has all been making the city wear a filthy look,” said a GVMC senior official.

Due to shortage of bins and callous attitude of the public in dumping garbage, the One Town, Gnanapuram, Allipuram, Relliveedhi, Peda Jalaripeta, Maddi-lapalem, Scindia New Colony, Malkapuram, Dondaparthy and Old Gajuwaka are seen filled with garbage more often than not.

As per some statistics, Visakhapatnam city generates about 1,100 to 1,200 metric tonne of waste a day, which is spread in about 533 sq km and consists of 72 wards. In some areas, particularly in the hill slope areas, the delay in door-to-door garbage collection is also prompting the public to litter. The ambitious ‘dustbin-free model wards’ programme implemented in 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 had not also met fruition.

“We have recently raised proposals for more dustbins to keep the city spick and span. The commissioner has been striving hard to make Vizag a litter-free smart city. Public support is also needed to achieve the goal and they should be made aware of the negative effects of littering. We are continuously asking the people to dispose the waste and garbage in the mornings only, which helps ensure cleanliness in the city as the sanitary staff immediately clean it up,” said Appala Raju, a sanitary inspector in the city.