VIJAYAWADA: Residents of Ajit Singh Nagar in Vijayawada are threatening to launch a stir if the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) did not stop dumping waste of the city in the garbage transfer station at the dumping yard in the locality.
The joy of the residents of Ajit Singh Nagar of being able to breathe fresh was short-lived after the civic authorities restarted dumping wastes in the dump yard in the locality after residents Pathapadu prevented civic body garbage vehicles from ‘relieving themselves’ in the village.
Accusing the civic body of taking temporary measures of shifting around the garbage, Ajit Singh Nagar residents demand a permanent solution to dumping of city waste. With a population of above 10 lakh, Vijayawada generates around 550 metric tonnes of solid waste every day.
The civic body had followed the practice of dumping garbage at Pathapadu village, while proposing to build a housing project for homeless poor on the 32 acre land at Ajit Singh Nagar dump yard.
However, after facing resistance by Pathpadu residents, VMC authorities started permanently dumping wastes at the garbage transfer station on the premises of Ajit Singh Nagar dumping yard since June 14.
With this, nearly 2.5 tonne of garbage have piled up at the dumping yard premises, much to the chagrin of the people living near the dump yard. “The waste have again started piling up at the garbage transfer station. The stench is making our lives miserable, said local resident B Sundaraiah.
“Even after five years of Vijayawada being designated as part of the state capital Amaravati, the city does not have a fixed dumping yard and the civic body has been using the stone quarries to dump wastes from the 59 divisions.
Whenever we agitate against indiscriminate dumping at the yard, the corporation shifts the wastes to quarries in Pathapadu. If we do not protest, they continue to dump waste here itself,” rued another local resident K Malleswari.
Speaking to TNIE on Wednesday, VMC commissioner M Rama Rao admitted that authorities are dumping the wastes at the garbage transfer station in Ajit Singh Nagar dumping yard. “A team of officials held talks with Pathapadu residents and assured them of treating the garbage dumped in the stone quarries without causing any health hazards. The garbage will be shifted to Pathapadu on Thursday. Till then, we seek cooperation of the Ajit Singh Nagar residents,” he said.
Housing project on the cards
The civic body had proposed to build a housing project for homeless poor on the 32 acre land at Ajit Singh Nagar dump yard but nothing has moved forward since then
