Hyderabad: Now, toilets are up for adoption

Hyderabad: After adoption of wards, parks and roads, officials are now adopting toilets and assuming responsibility for their maintenance. In 2015, the GHMC authorities divided the city into 400 units and made politicos and bureaucrats mentors of each of these units. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced that Rs 50 lakh would be allocated to each unit for the conduction of developmental works.  The civic body received a total of 8,562 proposals regarding improvement of roads, stormwater drains, parks, playgrounds, drainage networks and water supply in the 400 wards.

Mr Arvind Ramakrishna from Satya Sree Colony in Warasiguda said, “For a few days after the announcement, mentors accompanied by the civic staff and members of resident welfare associations toured their adopted localities. Proposals were accepted and the GHMC promised to release funds, but too little of what was said was executed.” The following year, in July, municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao visited the Jalagam Vengal Rao Park and made an announcement that every officer would be asked to adopt a park, including those within colonies, to improve the city’s green cover. However, the minister continues to receive complaints regarding encroachments on park lands.

Ms Amjala Radhika of Gajularamaram recently tweeted, “The GHMC park has been illegally occupied and construction is on at Ushodaya Colony Phase I and at the border of PP Nagar, behind UMCC Hospital.” This is only one of many such complaints. In July this year, GHMC engineers were asked to adopt arterial stretches of roads that connected to the west zone.  Many important roads were identified for this purpose, of which 26 roads were adopted in the first phase. Up to 75 km of road were supposedly being personally managed by these officials, but the roads are currently un-motorable. Now, the GHMC has asked its staff to adopt public toilets in order to provide better service to citizens. 

GHMC commissioner Dr B. Janardhan Reddy said, “It has been observed that citizens are hesitating to use public toilets as they are not properly maintained. In order to maintain hygienic conditions, the adoption method has been introduced. The officials concerned will visit their adopted toilets daily and personally use them to ensure that they are clean.”