VIJAYAWADA: The 12-day Krishna Pushkarams which ended on a grand note in the city, however, left a daunting task for the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) in terms of huge solid waste generation.
About 18,000 metric tonnes of solid waste has been generated at the four major bathing ghats and twenty Pushkar Nagars during the river festival, in addition to the 550 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day generated in 59 divisions in the city.
However, disposing of the garbage became a major problem for the VMC due to lack of proper dumping yard in the city. The VMC authorities had dumped all the 18,000 tonnes of solid waste at Ajit Singh Nagar, where Sriram energy plant previously existed, and Pathapadu dumping yard.
In all, 21,000 sanitary workers including agricultural labourers were deputed on special duties round-the-clock to remove the solid waste and clean up the ghats. The VMC used 300 additional tractors, autos and e-autos to lift the solid waste which included plastic bottles, water sachets, flowers, pinda pradanam residue, soiled plates and other miscellaneous articles. During Pushkarams, people made offerings to the gods. This generated a lot of solid waste. The VMC had deployed volunteers and field level officials near the bathing ghats to clear the solid waste that entered the river. Though the corporation planned to segregate plastic and non-plastic wastes at the ghats, they could not make it due to lack of time. During peak hours, an empty truck had to be filled up within 15 minutes at each bathing ghat, said senior VMC official.
“In the absence of designated dumping yard, the VMC had dumped the solid waste at Sriram energy plant at Ajith Singh Nagar and Pathapadu dumping yard,’’ said VMC commissioner G Veerapandian. “We are planning to segregate the wastes now as plastics and non-plastics. Our idea is to recycle all the plastic wastes, while the dry waste will be incinerated,” he said.