The urban garbage dump-free initiative-2013 to be taken up by the GVMC under the ‘Clean and Green Visakha’ initiative will ensure a better environment, besides saving money for the corporation and generating revenue.
If everything goes well, the Kapuluppada dump yard, where hundreds of tonnes of garbage is being dumped every day for the last 15 years, would become another Sivaji Park.
The garbage dump-free initiative, which the GVMC wants to put in place by March first week, needs a lot of support and cooperation from the people, GVMC Commissioner M.V. Satyanarayana has said.
The first stage is crucial as the resident has to segregate the household garbage into wet and dry, and hand them over to the workers who come to the doorstep with a pushcart.
The wet and dry garbage will be placed in separate bins. Other garbage such as plastic bottles, glass pieces have separate bins on the pushcart.
The pushcart, which will be managed by three workers, will take the garbage to the transit point in the ward and from there to the one or two resource centres in each GVMC zone.
At the resource centre, the wet garbage would be converted into compost, vermicompost or biogas, and the dry garbage would be made into bales with a pneumatic machine and sold through auction to factories for recycling. The residue garbage would be sent to the Kapuluppada dump yard.
Mr. Satyanarayana and others explained about the initiative at a press conference on Tuesday in a bid to create awareness among people. Soon, the initiative would be explained to people in apartments, schools, colleges, religious places, and other areas of public gathering such as beach road.
Along with Mr. Satyanarayana, Additional Deputy Commissioner (finance) P. Purnachandra Rao, who is the coordinator of the project, Regional Joint Director (municipal administration) Khadri, and AMHO of Zone II Srinivas explained the initiative. ADC (general) K. Ramesh and CMHO P.V. Ramana Murthy were present.
The initiative is in tune with the solid waste management rules set by the Supreme Court in 2000. Small municipalities were able to implement the rules successfully and a big corporation such as the GVMC would also be able to do it if people cooperated, Mr. Satyanarayana said.
Penalty
Though the government has fixed a fee of Rs. 25 a month from every house, the GVMC has decided not to collect the same. However, a fine of Re. 1 would be collected if the wet and dry garbage was not handed over to the pushcart workers separately or the garbage dumped on the roadside, the Commissioner said.
