Plastic and other waste strewn on roads, lack of proper segregation of domestic waste into organic and inorganic matter, no tracking of garbage vehicles and lack of a comprehensive sanitation plan have been observed in 13 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across Telangana.
An inspection by additional director of sanitation P. Mahender of the department of municipal administration and urban development of 13 municipalities — Nagaram, Dammaiguda, Ghatkesar, Pocharam, Medchal, Kompally, Gundla Pochampally, Dundigal, Nizampet, IDA Bollaram, Ameenpur, Tellapur and Shamshabad — had also revealed that sanitation work did not have proper supervision despite having an environmental engineer on board.
In the report submitted to Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration (CDMA) N. Satyanarayana on Tuesday, Mr. Mahender said that the municipal authorities concerned were “not even aware” of preparation of plans for effective sanitation management. Sanitation work is being done in a “routine manner without proper planning on men and machinery”.
Door to door collection is being done on alternative days through private vehicles with no operational control from the municipal authorities. Littering of roads with papers, plastic waste, construction debris, open burning of waste, irregular road sweeping, waste scattered in the open plots and spaces have been observed in the municipalities.
Segregation of waste at door step was not being done except in Shamshabad municipality with others not even separating the same in garbage vehicles. Only Medchal, Gundla Pochampally and Shamshabad have GPS tracking of garbage carrying vehicles.
He noted that the door-to-door household garbage collection is not being done from commercial areas while in some towns, waste collection in commercial stretches is being done during evening hours but “it is not effective”. The report stated that the twin bin system to separate dry and wet waste has not been initiated in the commercial establishments in all towns.
Dump yards in these towns are in ‘vulnerable’ conditions except in Medchal. Composting of waste is undertaken in vegetable markets only. Plastic flexis are ‘everywhere’ in Nizampet and Tellapur municipalities. In at least six towns, there was an urgent requirement of manpower and the district collector concerned approval is awaited. Biometric attendance is absent and salaries are being based on manual attendance.
Positive aspects
However, there were positive practices too like public toilets in all 13 ULBs, including ‘she’ toilets, are properly maintained. Medchal dumpyard is equipped with required facilities like composting / segregation was being done satisfactorily, Kompally has a bailing machine, compact incinerator and proper sheds while Shamshabad has been doing well on waste segregation.
Action
The official called for making city and ward level sanitation plans in a planned manner, segregation at source to be strictly implemented, involve ward committees in door to door collection, segregation, GPS tracking of vehicles, wages based on bio-metric attendance and two bins in commercial establishments. Composting of waste has to be increased and mass cleaning drive be taken up every fortnight. Bulk waste generators should be having a separate mechanism.
Mr. Satyanarayana has shared the report with the municipal officials concerned and sought action taken reports on how they would go about improving sanitation.
