Not stopping at inculcating civic sense, the latest campaign of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) focuses on marital life of the citizens. The city’s civic body has come up with a unique slogan which lays emphasis on a ‘united’ family and ‘separated’ waste. The initiative is part of the GHMC’s efforts to promote source-level segregation of dry and wet household waste.
The unique approach is to promote strong family ties in the age of increasing divorce rate, especially in urban areas. The concept is the brainchild of GHMC Commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy, who said that the new campaign would drive home the point that western world should be looked up to in some areas, but not in everything.
While the developed countries like the US, the UK and Australia perform exceptionally well in segregating household waste, the divorce rate in these countries is between 50 per cent and 80 per cent, said Mr. Reddy, who felt the civic consciousness of the west should be emulated but not the incompatibility factor in their family life. He said keeping in mind the rapid urbanisation and changing family dynamics in the Indian society, the new slogan was relevant. Mr. Reddy explained that through the campaign, the GHMC wants to seek the support of families to address the issue of waste disposal and keep the city clean.
The campaign would be a part of the future awareness programmes of the GHMC to improve the rankings of the city in Swach Survekshan Survey, 2017. The Corporation has also been encouraging the citizens to engage with the local civic workers through ‘Parichayam’, a newly-launched initiative.
Mr. Reddy said that metros across the world posed challenges to the local administration as their growth was directly proportional to the waste generated. He said that the civic body was taking up a number of steps to tackle waste, keeping in mind the increasing population of the city.
