Fevers on rise due to garbage pile-up

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation's haste to phase out ageing sanitation vehicles without replacing them was one of the causes for the the worst dengue outbreak in a decade. The civic body has phased out 150 heavy vehicles which were older than 15 years over three years but purchased only 40.

The vehicles are used to carry garbage to the Jawarharnagar dump yard. The lack of vehicles resulted in garbage piling up in the city. They trapped rainwater which provided mosquitoes places to breed.

Another major area of concern is that during the festival season the corporation does not have additional vehicles to pick the extra garbage that is generated in residential colonies. The GHMC has pressed into service some vehicles for the purpose but it may not be enough.

The corporation phased out 279 garbage vehicles in July 2016 and 92 in 2017 which were older than 15 years. The 279 vehicles were replaced by 40 10-tonne and 25-tonne lorries.

Due to the shortage of vehicles, garbage dumped in Imliban, Yousufguda and Kavadiguda transfer stations are not carried to Jawaharnagar the same day.

Over a period of time, the number of vehicles with the GHMC has dropped to 384 from 773. The city also has 2,000 Swachh auto tippers of which 1,400 have been picking up garbage from the doorstep. The rest are under repair. Highly placed sources said that mid-level staff had been producing fake details pertaining to the amount of garbage picked up from the city. The lower-rung officials made full use of the transfer of four IAS officers in a span of three years from the sanitation wing to fudge data.

Sources said taking advantage of the shortage of vehicles, the lower-ring staff has been hiring vehicles. They have also removed vehicle-tracking systems.