Segregation of little use

Nearly a year after introducing it, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) says it has distributed 44 lakh twin bins among city residents. The idea is to ask residents to segregate their wet and dry waste in separate bins.

The separated waste is to be collected from the doorstep by 2,000 mini-trucks, for a fee. The GHMC has pushed this programme aggressively, even going so far as to launch a campaign “divide the trash, unite the family.” Deccan Chronicle takes a look at some of the houses to see how the city is dealing with its trash.

Marredpally
SCB vs GHMC: The difference is clear.

The area is divided between the GHMC and the Secunderabad Cantonment Board and the difference shows. The GHMC has not distributed twin bins in its jurisdiction, the SCB carries out individual garbage collection. 

Residents say SCB staff collect garbage from the doorstep regularly. But at a few places in East and West Marredpally, GHMC officials fail to clear the garbage bins regularly.

“The garbage bin near Geeta Reddy Hospital is always overflowing. Sometimes, it remains like that for a week,” said local resident K. Rajkumar. This apart, residents say that street corners in Addagutta, Tukaram Gate, and East Marredpally are cleaner now.

A.S. Rao Nagar
Have two bin, will not segregate trash.

Most housing colonies in AS Rao Nagar, ECIL, Neredmet, Sainkpuri, Defence Colony and RK Puram have been supplied twin bins but many residents do not segretage garbage. The sanitary staff takes the plastic from the waste and dumps the rest.

Open plots in Sainkpuri, Defence Colony and areas along the Kapra lake have been converted into dumping yards to process debris and waste from other sources which is of no use to rag-pickers.

GHMC staff says they cannot control this practice. Mr C.S. Chandrashekar of Green Sainkpuri said residents connect their sewage lines to the open nalas, and also dump their trash there. This affects colonies near the lake and at the end of the nalas.

Garden waste is strewn on the road sides and set on fire. But a handful of residents in colonies have made their own vermicompost bins and recycle kitchen waste to use in their gardens.

Baghamberpet
Two bins in, no garbage out.

Colonies in Uppal, Ramanthapur, Amberpet, Baghamberpet, Golnaka, Kacheguda and Tarnaka have no community garbage bins, with the GHMC implementing the two-bin system and door-to-door colection of garbage.

All 16 garbage bins have been shifted from Baghamberpet, 12 out of 20 in Amberpet and 11 of 15 in Golnaka have been removed. Where the twin bins are not common, garbage ends up being dumped on the roads. Three out of 16 bins in  Nallakunta, and four out of 23 in Kacheguda have been moved out. Garbage is now dumped in the open there.

Uppal Highway
No garbage point. Trash on road.

Heaps of garbage are dumped by GHMC staff on the busy Uppal-Ramanthapur road, which leads to Amberpet, Baghamberpet and DD Colony. Motorists, especially two-wheeler riders, suddenly swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid the garbage and dogs that the waste attracts.

Besides, pedestrians are forced to walk on the roads due to the garbage. Residents dump the garbage on the road becaquse the GHMC has removed the garbage bin as apart of its exercise to eradicate garbage vulnerable points.

Garbage is cleared once or twice in a week, said local resident M. Vikranth. “The problem can be minimised if the GHMC clears garbage every day,” said Mr Mohd Hussain, a resident.

Mani Konda
Residents have to pay to get the trash cleared.

The commercial hubs of Manikonda and Puppal-guda are part of the gram panchayats that depend on private individuals for garbage collection Each family pays Rs 50 per month.

Sri Varsha Apartments treasurer K. Pavan Kumar said they had engaged a private person to collect garbage but he stopped coming a month ago. Now, the apartment caretaker collects the bags and dumps them in a nearby dustbin.

Ms Kalavathi, who collects garbage from apartments in Puppalaguda. said they were collecting garbage on alternate days and dumping it at the Narsing dumping yard.

In old city
Those who are not paying stop collection from everyone.

Garbage collection at the door happens occasionally, in the Old City stretching from Afzaljung to Barkas. But at Yakutpura, Moghalpura, Babanagar, Malakpet and Shaheennagar, residents do not hand over the waste to sanitary workers but dump the trash in community bins, said Malakpet resident Md. Maqsood.

The twin bins, distribution in the Old City are uneven. Only a few houses in Malakpet, Dabeerpura have been given the bins. Garbage is collected from houses that pay '50 a month. Residents who refuse to pay dump their trash at the garbage bins, said Gowliguda resident Tukaram Goud.

Mr Shaikh Aslam, who runs a hotel, said streetside eateries, hotels and bakeries dump their waste in the Musi, instead of handing it over to the GHMC's bulk garbage trucks.

Ms Nasreen Begum of Enginebowli said the staff do not enter the tiny lanes with hundreds of houses, they collect waste from houses along the main roads. Mr P. Rajkumar of Bhavaninagar said if one family is willing to pay but the others aren't, the sanitary staff don't enter that lane.

Secunderabad
The markets are a mess.

Overflowing garbage bins is a common sight in General Bazaar, Sapnalok Complex, Ranijung, James Street, Pot Market, around Monda market and behind Paradise Hotel towards Sindhi Colony.

These are highly commercialised areas, with unregistered roadside eateries that throw their garbage in the bins. These vendors don’t want to pay GHMC as the bulk garbage collection fee is  higher than what residential areas pay. They dump the waste in the bins or in nalas and drains.

Mr Ahmed Pasha of an Irani tea hotel at MG Road said they had complained several times to the GHMC but there was no action. Pot Market lane and Monda Market located on the opposite ends have vegetable and plastic waste thrown on the main roads. The place needs garbage collection twice daily.

Somajiguda
Segregated garbage is re-mixed.

The two-bin system has been implemented in Somajiguda, Banjara Hills, Khairatabad, Red Hills, Punjagutta and Nampally. Residents separate dry and wet waste but complain that it gets mixed anyhow.

Mr Naveen B., a resident of an apartment block in Somaji-guda, said the garbage clearing vehicles collect garbage on alternate days. The caretaker collects segregated trash bags from the flats but dumps them together in one large bag. This happens in all the apartments, he said.

The waste is dumped in an open plot behind his apartment complex, from where the GHMC staff is supposed to clear it. However, the sweepers pile up the garbage and set it on fire, Mr Naveen said. GHMC assistant medical offficer Ravi Kiran said the vehicles that pick up the garbage have separate sections for wet and dry waste, which may not be visible from outside.

A garbage collector at Red Hills said the vehicles had not been introduced in all the areas, and garbage ended up getting mixed. The GHMC has removed about 150 bins - Garbage Vulnerable Points - from these areas. All the garbage from these areas is dumped in two big dump yards in Yousufguda and Jiyaguda.

Mehdipatnam
What’s a nala for? Dumping trash!

The twin dust bins to segregate garbage have not been provided in several colonies in Mehdipatnam and Toli Chowki. The residents throw garbage in the streets or in the corner bins.

Mr Naseruddin of Asifnagar, Mehdipatnam, said the area did not have a garbage bin. People dump trash at the street corners. Residents of Vinayaknagar on Shaikpet Nala Road use the nala as a dump yard.

Location is everything. Mr Mohammed Mazharuddin, a shop keeper in Samata Colony, Seven Tombs Road, Toli Chowki, said the road was covered by one sanitary worker team  and the houses by another. If the residents place their garbage bags a little inside, they are not touched.

There are 39 houses in the street adjacent to his shop with more than 45 families. In Mini Gulshan Colony, Toli Chowki, shopkeepers throw garbage in an open area near a transformer. Residents hand over their garbage to collectors daily.

Mr Alok Singh Thakur of Suryanagar Colony said they paid the sanitary staff Rs 100 a month to collect garbage, but the staff does not turn up regularly. The GHMC says the garbage collection fee per house is Rs 50. It is up to the residents to decide on how much they want to pay.

Malkajgiri
With two bins, there are no strays.

Open land near road under-bridges has been converted into dump yards. Affected residents nearby and near railway tracks like Tallabasti, Vishnupuram Extension and Dayanand-nagar are having a difficult time.

Ms M. Narsamma who stays in Tallabasti, says dogs and pigs tear plastic bags containing garbage in search of food, scattering trash all over. Who throws the garbage is not considered.

Mr Mudda Hanumantha Rao, who represents the colony welfare association, said that they had installed CCTVs and have taken up the issue with the GHMC. The Swachh Hyderabad campaign, unfortunately, seems to be limited to the main roads, he said.

Some colonies in Malkajgiri were provided twin bins. Collection is regular in Anandbagh, Gandhi-nagar and Hanumannagar where waste is not seen on the main roads. There are no stray dogs and flies seen.

Tech Zone
Rental portions do not get twin bins.

GHMC workers collect segregated garbage from posh localities like Quiet Lands, White Fields, Madhapur and Kondapur every day. The collection is regular at Nallagandla and Khaitalapur. But most areas did not get the twin bins to segregate garbage.

Mr K.R. Suresh from Anjaiahnagar, who stays in one of the five portions in a two-storey building, says, “The GHMC staff supplied bins based on house numbers, not on the number of portions in the house. They supplied only two bins to our building that has five portions," he said.

Mr K. Srinivas from Prashanth-nagar, Kondapur, said most residents did not get the bins but sanitary workers visit the colony regularly to collect garbage. He said the GHMC staff stayed overnight at a point to identify those who were dumping garbage at open places and imposed penalty on a few of them.

S.R. Nagar
Border problem: Whose garbage is it anyway.

The commercial areas of Sanathnagar, SR Nagar and Balkampet have a different problem. Dasarambasthi in Sanathnagar division, which lies on the border with SR Nagar, is filled with garbage. The two-bin system is in place only in some areas. Not all the residents there use them.

A few families use the bins, but the garbage collectors dump all the trash together so that they can collect scrap from it. Residents say garbage from 15 nearby residential colonies is being dumped on a two-acre piece of land by the GHMC.

Ownership of the land is under a dispute with the Wakf Board and some persons from BK Guda claiming it.  Encroachers started settling on the land. The GHMC demolished a dilapidated school building during the monsoon last year.

The land has also turned into an open toilet. Mr S. Prem Kumar, a resident, said he had lodged a complaint with the GHMC on its website in September last, but the corporation closed it without attending to it in October.

Mr P. Narender, a resident, said GHMC workers collect garbage from BK Guda, SRT Colony, C Type Colony, Ravindranagar colony, Balaiahnagar, Shamalkun-tabasti and a few colonies in Sanatnagar and dump it in the area. Workers take away plastic and other material from the garbage, leaving the rest of it there. The GHMC ignores complaints, he said. “It is difficult to sit in the temple even for a few minutes,” said local resident Srinivas Sharma.

Begumpet
Some areas covered, others are not.

GHMC staff collects garbage from the doorsteps in Methodist Colony, Umanagar, the areas behind Shopper's Stop and colonies adjacent to National Investigation Agency.

But a few streets like Shamlal Building, the area behind Police Lines and Traffic Training Office have overflowing garbage bins, which attract stray dogs. Last year, a stray dog had bitten off the ear of a five-year-old and went on a biting spree at Shamlal Building.

With inputs from Coreena Suares, S.N.C.N. Acharyulu, S.A. Ishaqui, Kaniza Garari, Kamalapathi Rao H., K.K. Abdul Rahoof, Mahesh Avadhutha, Anusha Puppala, Pinto Deepak and Chand Ahmed.