HYDERABAD: Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday asked officials to explore the possibilities of handing over the door-to-door garbage collection and transportation system to private sector in smaller urban local bodies (ULBs). This would help in improvement of sanitation and cleanliness in towns and cities across the state, Rama Rao felt.
Inaugurating the National Waste Management Summit organised by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and others, Rama Rao said the then government had planned to hand over the door-to-door garbage collection to private sector some 7-8 years ago.
However, it was opposed by municipal employees unions assuming that it would displace the workers and their livelihood despite the assurances by the government that no worker would be displaced. The minister wanted the ULBs to engage people while implementing developmental works.
Two bins systems failed
Rama Rao admitted that the two-bin system introduced in the GHMC limits last year for segregation of wet and dry waste at household level has failed as it did not serve the purpose.
The bins (44 lakh) distributed to all the 22 lakh households last year in the city for segregation of dry and wet waste was a failure as people instead of using the bins for garbage segregation are using it for storing essential commodities like cereal and pulses.
When the minister himself enquired with people during previous meetings as to how many of them were using the bins for waste segregation, and unfortunately nobody gave reply indicating that bins are being used for other purposes.
Instead of distributing bins to the households, GHMC can provide garbage bins to schools which can be worthy and useful, he added. MAUD Secretary Navin Mittal said the summit is meant to exchange ideas and adopting best practices among ULBs across India.
Bigger dustbins for govt, pvt schools
To bring a change in the attitude of school-going children on dealing with garbage, Rama Rao asked mayor Bonthu Rammohan and commissioner B Janardhan Reddy to partner with the School Education department to introduce bigger garbage bins in 2,000 to 3,000 government schools and extend it to private schools later
Garbage collector felicitated
On the occasion, a garbage collector T Venkataiah was felicitated by the Minister. He has been working tirelessly in Babulreddynagar slum and Raghavendra colony of Rajendranagar. Venkataiah had never taken a leave since the past 16 years of his career.