The pilot project taken up by GVMC for decentralized solid waste management ran into rough weather following its inability to find a suitable site for turning it into manure.
GVMC launched the pilot project covering 6,000 houses in Ward 42 of Marripalem and Karasa areas of Zone IV last month with a plan to separate dry and wet waste and turn it into manure. While in the other zones only 400 houses each have been selected, Zone IV started off with 6,000 to set an example.
A door-to-door collection system has been put in place with 16 rickshaws run by 32 workers gathering the separated dry and wet garbage from the households.
The waste carried by the rickshaws was picked up by four autos.
The corporation proposed to set up the dump yard and install a machine for pulverizing the wet waste for conversion into manure at the cremation grounds at Marripalem. However, there has been opposition from residents there.
“Unlike the earlier process where it is spread on platforms and needed a month, using the new machine compost can be made in a fortnight,” said a GVMC official. The machine is also said to be ready and the site required is not much. Now with the locals opposing it, the collected garbage, around three tons a day, is being sent to Gajuwaka transfer station and from there to the Kapuluppada dumping yard.
On a representation from residents, Visakhapatnam North MLA Tyanala Vijay Kumar visited the cremation grounds and suggested that the dump yard and composting be shifted to a revenue site at Karasa.
The site is said to be close to a storm water drain (gedda) and a habitation is nearby. Officials say there should not be any objection to locating the manure machine and yard in the cremation ground where bodies are burnt.
Of the 19 wards in Zone IV, for five the manure making yard is proposed at Malkapuram. For the remaining 14 the site is to be located. For the pilot project, the Marripalem site has been selected but it can accommodate only two wards.
Arilova is suggested as an alternative. But Arilova is in Zone 1 and transporting the garbage of 14 wards there defeats the very aim of decentralised SWM because again fuel bills will mount up.
Besides, GVMC will be losing precious time in showcasing the results of the pilot project to launch its massive project of decentralised SWM all over the city in March.
