HYDERABAD: If things move as planned, the sight of garbage overflowing from bins would be a thing of the past in the twin cities as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has decided to make the city free of garbage bins in a phased manner.
The plan envisages collection of garbage at the doorstep of residents and transporting the same to the garbage transfer stations everyday without the need for garbage bins.
The state government wants to make Hyderabad a bin-free city in a phased manner. As a pilot project, the GHMC will endeavour to make one circle in each zone free of bins. Thus, six circles have been selected from the six zones of the city. They are Secunderabad, Khairatabad, Saroornagar, Rajendranagar, Serilingampally and Qutbullapur.If the experiment is successful and basing on the feedback, it will be extended to all the circles in near future.
The standing committee has given green signal for the proposal submitted by GHMC officials for procurement of 359 Swachh auto tippers (SATs) at a cost of `15.40 crore under driver-cum-owner scheme for door-to-door collection of garbage from households in the six selected circles. The proposal is being sent to the state government for administrative sanction. After the getting the sanction from the government, the GHMC will invite tenders for procuring garbage collection vehicles and meeting manpower requirements.
The number auto tippers needed for the pilot scheme is as follows: Secunderabad (23), Khairatabad (120), Saroornagar (26), Rajendranagar (80), Serilingampally (60) and Qutbullapur (50). The vehicle will have two closed containers, one for wet and the other for dry waste, with a total payload of 800 to 1,000 kg. Besides, it will be equipped with GPS and a public address system. GHMC officials said the corporation plans to phase out the existing garbage bins in all the 150 wards in a few years.
The corporation will make it mandatory for house-owners to hand over domestic waste directly to SAT, ban dumping of waste on roads and impose on-the-spot fines on violators. As per the Municipal Solid Wastes Rules, 2016, the SAT should have closed containers. Considering these additional specifications and increase in prices, 10 per cent rise in cost may be expected.
Action plan
The GHMC plans to phase out the garbage bins in all the 150 wards in the city in a few years. It will be made mandatory for house-owners to hand over waste directly to SAT