Visakhapatnam: Garbage left unattended by sanitary staff

Visakhapatnam: The delay in door-to-door garbage collection has severely hit the level of cleanliness in the city, with residents complaining that sanitary staff have not picked garbage for days on end.

Huge heaps of unattended garbage dot the streets in the absence of household garbage collection, providing thriving habitats for vectors and rodents.

Unfortunately, there are no garbage bins in some places of the city. Household garbage collection is yet to fully cover some suburbs and hilly areas of the city.

M.V. Raju, resident of MVP Colony, complained that sanitary staff clear garbage from their household only once in a week.

“The sanitary conditions in our vicinity have deteriorated over the last few weeks. At a time when there is malaria and dengue outbreak in the city, we cannot keep rotting garbage in our homes, as it could breed more mosquito larvae. We are left with no other option,” he said.

The streets of Peda Waltair, Gnanapuram, Relliveedhi, Peda Jalaripeta, Maddilapalem, Scindia New Colony, Malkapuram, Dondaparthy and Old Gajuwaka are littered with piles of garbage.

As per statistics, Visakhapatnam city generates about 1,000 to 1,100 metric tonnes of waste a day. The ambitious dustbin-free model wards programme implemented in some wards has failed.

A GVMC official said they were in the process of fortifying the door-to-door garbage collection, waste transportation and drainage clearance works through various measures. “We recently placed additional dumper bins in the city and are going to get some more,” he added.