GHMC, Secunderabad Cantonment Board fight junk wars

Hyderabad: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board and GHMC are fighting over a dumping yard. The SCB had earlier been dumping its entire waste on land belonging to the Board at Turkapally. However, the area MLA protested and the property was seized following resistance by locals. Currently, the SCB pays GHMC to collect its waste and dump it at Jawah-arnagar dumping ground.

The SCB, however, has asked why it should pay for garbage collection and dumping when its land has been seized. It wants land in exchange of the seized property or space in Jawaharnagar. The standoff between the two civic bodies had been going on for months, which resulted in Malkaj-giri MLA C. Kanaka Reddy staging a protest to stop dumping of SCB garbage in the Turkapally trench. As colonies under the Malkajgiri are adjacent to the Turkapally yard, the MLA and residents protested dumping of garbage there and had directed the SCB to dump garbage at Jawaharnagar. This was not to the liking of SCB as the Turkapally yard is within its limits.

M. Devender, sanitary superintendent of SCB, said, “Turkapally trenching area is a notified centre, spread over 18 acres and is viable and well equipped for waste management. Jawaharnagar in GHMC limits is 30 km away and it is a costly affair to pay Rs 27 lakh per month to the GHMC. Why should we do that when our own Turkapally yard is available to us in our jurisdiction? We can dump garbage at Jawa-harnagar if no charges are levied by the GHMC. The SCB is not responsible for colonies coming up near Turkapally.” The issue came up for discussion during a SCB meeting on February 27. The ward members demanded that the state should provide land in exchange or provide SCB a separate jumping yard.