HYDERABAD: Where does the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) dispose of the 200-odd truckloads of construction and demolishment (C&D) waste generated in the city each day? Sources say that the civic body does not dump it at designated landfills, but instead, hides it in plain sight, under infra projects and near water bodies. Burial of construction waste is not uncommon in the city.
Ironically, civic bodies like the GHMC and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), which are responsible for removing C&D waste, are often found burying it. The "burial grounds", more often than not, are lakes, riverbeds, medians and open plots.
Take for instance, Road Number 82 at Film Nagar. A newly laid road here is much narrower than the median, thanks to the GHMC engineers who chose to fill the median with construction waste dumped on the roadside. Residents of the area say that the C&D waste at Road Number 82 was dumped by the GHMC two years ago when it had replaced the tiles alongside KBR Park.
"The GHMC dumped the C&D waste here, and now, it is burying the same waste. After the GHMC dumped the waste, many others began doing the same on the roadside and near Hakimpet Kunta. Initially, there was a plan to remove the heap, but because it was too much work, engineers decided to fill the median with it," said Sai Charan, a resident of Film Nagar, who lives beside Road Number 82.
The GHMC had also dumped tonnes of waste in Shah Hatim Lake located about 3 km from Hakimpet Kunta, according to sources. This lake had flooded Nadeem Colony at Tolichowki during the torrential rains in October last year.
Reportedly, the HMDA is also involved in burying C&D waste. Last year, it helped the GHMC lay a road alongside Musi in Attapur. It was laid on C&D waste, and a section of the same road caved in during the recent floods.
Project on Hussainsagar
The HMDA also used heaps of hazardous cadmium-containing waste, which was dumped in Hussainsagar near the confluence of Kukatpally naala, to set up a 'bird island'. The island is a mound of rubbish capped by a geothermal layer and decorated using ornamental plantation as part of the Hussainsagar cleaning initiative.
According to HMDA officials, the department plans to build around three to four such islands spread across three acres on the water body. The project is estimated to cost Rs 3.50 lakh per cubic metre.
Recycling process too slow
The city began recycling C&D waste only 100 days ago at its sole C&D recycling unit in Jeedimetla. The plant can recycle 500 tonnes of C&D waste a day. So far, the unit has recycled about 50,000 tonnes of C&D waste that was transferred to Jedimetla before the inauguration. It will take about six more years to recycle 12,64,791 tonnes of C&D waste collated at Jeedimetla.
Even if only 500 metric tonnes of waste is recycled every day, the city will still generate around 5,47,500 metric tonnes of C&D waste in a year. According to official data, Hyderabad generated about 1,000 tonnes of C&D waste in 2018.
Over the last three years, the number has doubled to 2,000 tonnes. In the next five years, statistical prediction suggests that city will have around 36,50,000 tonnes of waste, equivalent to 3,65,000 truckloads of it.