HYDERABAD: E Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday flew into a rage at the zonal commissioners of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for the deplorable state the newly constructed toilets across the city were in. The Minister, referring to the toilets that are in a state of utter neglect, wanted an explanation from them as to how they could allow them to be reduced to become festering sores, without any thought to the damage their condition was doing to the ambience in the localities they are in. “They are bringing disrepute to the city,” he said.
The Minister pointed out that after constructing the toilets, the maintenance agency was not paid for its services which had resulted in their poor upkeep. He asked if the zonal commissioners did not know that the maintenance agency would abandon the toilets if it is not paid and wanted to know why payments had been held up.
Expressing his annoyance over the poor maintenance of sanitation in the city at a review meeting with officials, he wanted to know whether the zonal commissioners were aware of the fact that garbage was piling up everywhere in the city. He directed the zonal commissioners to pay more attention for maintenance of sanitation and conduct field level inspections every morning.
He said an audit should be conducted on the sanitation programmes at a circle-wise basis. He asked each circle to conduct an audit on the number of dwellings, the number of sanitation staff, and clean autos they have for garbage collection from the houses. GHMC engineers were instructed to take up desilting of nalas and removal of encroachments on a priority basis by Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD), KT Rama Rao on Monday. The Minister held a review meeting with the engineers at the GHMC head office and discussed issues of sanitation, road development and nala expansion in the city.
The engineers were instructed to deploy additional machinery and human resources to complete the desilting of drains and nalas, and were directed to set up a special ‘Green Channel’ to release funds for these works. Rama Rao also directed officials to remove encroachments and obstructions that have come up along the nalas. For the displaced homeless families, steps should be taken to allocate double-bedroom houses, the Minister said. Administrative clearances for the funds needed for the short-term works would be released by the government, he said.