VIJAYAWADA: In an effort to transform Vijayawada into a garbage-free city, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has came up with the idea of installing solar-powered CCTV cameras near the garbage bins at various locations in the city.
According to VMC sources, the officials of its engineering department have identified 201 locations in three circles of the city where 321 dumper bins are placed.
CCTV cameras, charged by solar energy, will be installed to keep track of the condition of dumper bins in the identified locations. According to VMC sources, the solar panels will be installed just above the CCTV cameras.
The move to install cameras comes in the wake of several instances of garbage and debris being dumped on the roadsides and sometimes, on arterial roads, coming to light.
Municipal Corporation commissioner J Nivas and executive engineer in the garbage vehicle depot will thoroughly monitor the live visuals - of dumper bins - generated by the cameras at a command control centre established in the VMC office. In what would be a thorough real-time governance, the concerned staff members would be alerted and the piled-up garbage would be shifted to the dumping yard by the compact garbage-carrying vehicles.
Speaking to the TNIE, VMC chief medical and health officer M Arjun Rao said, “Two years ago the civic body had installed smart bins at five designated spots, to reduce instances of garbage spilling onto the roads.
“Buoyed by the response, the VMC has come up with the concept of installing CCTV cameras near dumper bins for regular monitoring of those”.
Officials have already installed CCTV cameras at 36 locations of the city and the remaining 165 will be covered in a phased manner, he said and went on to add, “the cameras will be powered by energy generated by the solar panels, installed above those”.