HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) faced anxious moments on Wednesday when Jawaharnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) locked the Jawaharnagar dumping yard refusing to let the garbage be dumped there as the former has failed to pay the annual property tax dues of Rs 1.90 crore.
Several trucks laden with garbage were stopped near Jawaharnagar and the drivers were told by the JMC staff to go back. Meanwhile, the people passing by the stretch leading to the dump yard had to bear the stench.
Coming to know of the situation, GHMC Commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar held talks with JMC Commissioner Aruna Kumari and assured her that the property tax dues would be cleared in a week’s time after getting a clarification from the State government on the issue. He requested her to keep the dump yard open till then and allow the civic body workers to dump garbage.
The GHMC has already written a letter to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Department in this regard and is awaiting response from the government. A meeting was also held on Wednesday at the government level to sort out the issue.
After the assurance made by the GHMC Commissioner, the JMC has decided to keep the dump yard open for a week. On Wednesday evening, the trucks were allowed to unload the garbage at the dump yard. The JMC officials said if the GHMC pays its dues, it would help them in taking up development work in their corporation limits.
For the record, an estimated 5,300 to 5,500 tonnes of waste is being generated in Greater Hyderabad, which is transported to Jawaharnagar every day. But with the dump yard being able to process only 5,000 tonnes of waste a day, the excess garbage gets stacked up.
The GHMC officials said that when Jawaharnagar was a nagar panchayat, they paid property tax regularly. “Now that it has become a corporation, they say that property tax needs not be paid corporation to corporation. However, we have written a letter to the State government seeking clarification. Whatever the decision of the government, we will abide by it,” they said.