Trash hillocks in Hyderabad: GHMC cannot transport garbage

Hyderabad: The GHMC is allowing trash to pile up at the garbage transfer station adjacent to Indira Park.  This, according to officials, was due to the fact that many garbage transporting vehicles of the GHMC are undergoing repairs.

The corporation says it is helpless in clearing the garbage.Garbage is collected at the station from smaller vehicles and transferred to the dump yard at Jawaharnagar.

A senior officer with the GHMC health and sanitation wing said that out of the 700-plus vehicles to transport the garbage to the dump yard, 145 were older than 15 years and a few were 20-25 years old. “As part of the 100-day action plan, GHMC was instructed to dispose of vehicles above the age limit. So far, 45 of them have been handed over.”

He said the remaining vehicles were making more trips to transfer the garbage but were unable to cope with the load. So much of garbage had accumulated that five vehicles were being loaded at a time. It hardly made a dent on the garbage “hillock”.

He said the decision to retire old vehicles was taken after a scam worth crores of rupees in vehicle repairs was detected. Each vehicle was being billed about Rs 25,000 worth of repairs each time, he said.

He said that the GHMC had begun to clear 1,015 vulnerable dumping bins twice daily. Because of this there is a significantly greater accumulation of trash at the transfer station.

Officials point out that  GHMC commissioner has decentralised the transport wing. Earlier,  for repairs of all the vehicle, the file would be put up with the Commissioner for approval. Now, however, the powers have been given to Zonal commissioners too.

It piles up everywhere
Every colony in the twin cities has its own mini Jawaharnagar dumping yard, either at the entrance, in a corner or on some vacant plot. The waste is collected from the doorsteps and is dumped and even segregated at these mini yards. It lies there for days, unattended, and becomes source of food for stray dogs. The waste gets putrefied and is sometimes burnt.

Md Shakeel Khan from Afsar Khan Colony, Moti Darwaza, said, “Nobody can stand at Moti Darwaza as loads of garbage are piled up here. We are calling it Garbage Darwaza.” He wanted the GHMC to assign a security guard there to stop people from throwing waste.

Mr Boppana Sasi Kumar from Tarnaka said garbage collection was erratic. “They come at any time that suits them, and that too once or twice a week. After autos were provided, the service has become very unreliable. Garbage is now accumulating and creating a stench.”

Mr M. Chaitanya of Sri Datta Sainagar Colony, Bachupally road, said, “Garbage is not collected from all households. Autorickshaws collect it from the ground floor houses only. The person does not collect it from other floors.”

Asked about these issues faced by residents, GHMC commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy said that sanitary field assistants had been instructed to check if the personnel were collecting and transporting waste.

Dr Janardhan Reddy said the corporation had deployed personnel for round the clock vigil to check for dumping. He said that the GHMC would remove all vulnerable garbage points as part of the 100 day-action plan.

“Over 23 were removed in Kapra making it the first open vulnerable garbage points-free circle. The same will be done across the 150 wards,” the GHMC commissioner told this newspaper.