Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botcha Satyanarayana has said that development of Vijayawada is one of the priorities of the State government and funds in crores have already been released. He was speaking after flagging off a fleet of 25 mini segregated garbage collection vehicles (CNG) equipped with CC cameras pointed at the bins and GPS along with VMC Commissioner V. Prasanna Venkatesh.
Mr. Satyanarayana said the government also focussed on encouraging environment-friendly initiatives and as part of the same, the new CNG vehicles that have separate cabins for collection of wet and dry garbage were bought and soon one such vehicle per division would be provided.
Pat for staff
The Minister opined segregation of garbage at the source makes solid waste management effective. “The waste to energy plant which is ready for operation at Guntur will soon be opened and the dry waste generated in Vijayawada will be transported to the facility,” Mr. Satyanarayana said and appreciated the VMC Commissioner and staff for taking various initiatives that helped the city bag top rank in Swachh Survekshan.
Mr. Venkatesh said the use of smaller vehicles would help VMC cover more households in less time and only two workers would be required. The new vehicles would replace pushcarts used by sanitation workers to collect garbage and also ensure the collection of segregated waste in separate cabins, he said.
Through CC cameras, staff at control room would be able to check whether garbage was segregated before it was dumped or not, he said.
Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu said that more development works would be sanctioned for the city in future.