Garbage issue: Nallagandla has alternative

HYDERABAD: The GHMC continues to use a park as a garbage segregation unit despite having a designated dump yard in the vicinity. A set of documents from Ranga Reddy collectorate shows that Vattinagulapally in Gandipet mandal has a notified piece ofland which could be used as a garbage transfer station to the one in Nallagandla, which is right in the centre of a residential area.

In the document, dated June 4, 2017, the place is listed along with six others in the Gandipet mandal which could have the proposed dump site. The Vattinagulapally site is over 2 km from any habitation and is suitable to be a dumping yard, states the document. It also specifies the gram panchayat has made an agreement with ITC Ltd for processing and recycling plastic in the area.

This new revelation has irked residents in Nallagandla who are fighting a battle with the GHMC to shift the Nallagandla garbage station. “We can't understand why the GHMC is still insisting on encroaching a park and making it a permanent waste processing unit,” said Mr Vivek Anand Pandey, a resident of Nallagandla. “Nobody would want garbage to be handled in their backyard. We are attempting to make the process as scientific as possible,” said GHMC west zone commissioner Harichandana D., when asked about the new site.

She said the GHMC was waiting for a notification from the revenue department to permit the use of the land at Vattinagulapally for a garbage station. The waste from the entire circle is at present being sent to the Madhapur segregation unit.

Officials plan to set up a transfer unit with dry waste collection centre and with a composting pit with a dehumidifier to curtail any odour at Nallagandla. This transfer unit has come under the radar of the Pollution Control Board, which issued notices to the GHMC to follow solid waste management rules.

Clean air panel to oversee trash too:

The proposed clean air authority for Hyderabad will now keep a watch on pollution levels across the state and will be called Clean Authority of Telangana (CAT). A senior official of the Pollution Control Board said the CAT will be drawn on lines of the Clean Authority of Tokyo and will take cognisance of solid waste management as well. “We have visited the Tokyo metropolitan government area and found that their problem relating to solid waste management was similar to ours. Tokyo has 19 decentralised incinerators which generate power and help in meeting the energy needs of the city. This could be model for Hyderabad as well,” said Mr P. Satyanarayana, member secretary of the the PCB
It was in Septemper that the state commissioned a ‘waste to energy’ plant after earlier efforts had failed. The plant previously did not have the technology to meet emission standards. After this was fixed, the PCB cleared the plant and Ramky bagged the rights to set up the unit.

PCB stated the emission released by the plant would be in compliance with global standards. The plant will generate 19.5 megawatts. The waste management firm was making waste derived fuel which was being used in place of coal in big industries, said an official from Ramky.